Standard Lemma guide

emic

adj · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • /ˈiːmɪk/
  • rhymes with -iːmɪk

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of or pertaining to the analysis of a cultural system or its features from the perspective of a participant in that culture.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: anthropology, human-sciences, sciences, social-science, social-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Coined by American linguist Kenneth Pike in 1954 from phonemic. * Kenneth Lee Pike (1982), Linguistic Concepts: An Introduction to Tagmemics, page 44: “Generalizing from phonemics, I coined the term emic in 1954.”

Across languages

Translations

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: èmic — analyzing a culture from inside
  • Dutch: emisch — analyzing a culture from inside
  • German: emisch — analyzing a culture from inside
  • Greek: ημικός (imikós) — analyzing a culture from inside
  • Polish: emiczny — analyzing a culture from inside
  • Portuguese: êmico — analyzing a culture from inside
  • Portuguese: émico — analyzing a culture from inside
  • Spanish: émico — analyzing a culture from inside
  • Swedish: emisk — analyzing a culture from inside
  • Polish: emiczny — linguistic units
  • Portuguese: êmico — linguistic units
  • Portuguese: émico — linguistic units
  • Spanish: émico — linguistic units