Standard Lemma guide

ethnocentrism

noun · 2 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • ĕth'nō-sĕn'trĭz'əm
  • /ˌɛθ.nəʊˈsɛn.tɹɪzm̩/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: EH2 TH N OW0 S EH1 N T R IH0 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own traditional, deferred, or adoptive ethnic culture.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: partiality, partisanship

History

Etymology

From ethno- + -centrism.

Across languages

Translations

41 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: تَمَرْكُز عِرْقِيّ (tamarkuz ʕirqiyy) — tendency
  • Belarusian: этнацэнтры́зм (etnacentrýzm) — tendency
  • Bulgarian: етноцентри́зъм (etnocentrízǎm) — tendency
  • Catalan: etnocentrisme — tendency
  • Chinese Mandarin: 民族優越感 /民族优越感 (mínzú yōuyuè gǎn) — tendency
  • Chinese Mandarin: 種族中心主義 /种族中心主义 (zhǒngzú zhōngxīn zhǔyì) — tendency
  • Chinese Mandarin: 我族中心主義 /我族中心主义 (wǒzú zhōngxīn zhǔyì) — tendency
  • Czech: etnocentrismus — tendency
  • Danish: etnocentrisme — tendency
  • Dutch: etnocentrisme — tendency
  • Finnish: ryhmäkeskeisyys — tendency
  • Finnish: etnosentrisyys — tendency
  • Finnish: etnosentrismi — tendency
  • French: ethnocentrisme — tendency
  • Galician: etnocentrismo — tendency
  • German: Ethnozentrismus — tendency
  • Greek: εθνοκεντρισμός (ethnokentrismós) — tendency
  • Hawaiian: moʻomeheu nui — tendency
  • Hungarian: etnocentrizmus — tendency
  • Icelandic: þjóðhverfa — tendency
  • Icelandic: þjóðhverfur hugsunarháttur — tendency
  • Icelandic: þjóðhverf sjónarmið — tendency
  • Indonesian: etnosentrisme — tendency
  • Indonesian: sukuisme — tendency
  • Irish: eitnealárnachas — tendency
  • Italian: etnocentrismo — tendency
  • Japanese: エスノセントリズム (esunosentorizumu) — tendency
  • Japanese: 自民族中心主義 (jiminzokuchūshinshugi) — tendency
  • Latin: ethnocentrismus — tendency
  • Lithuanian: etnocentrizmas — tendency
  • Macedonian: етноцентризам (etnocentrizam) — tendency
  • Mongolian: этноцентризм (etnocentrizm) — tendency
  • Polish: etnocentryzm — tendency
  • Portuguese: etnocentrismo — tendency
  • Russian: этноцентри́зм (etnocentrízm) — tendency
  • Serbo-Croatian: етноцентрѝзам — tendency
  • Serbo-Croatian: etnocentrìzam — tendency
  • Slovak: etnocentrizmus — tendency
  • Spanish: etnocentrismo — tendency
  • Swedish: etnocentrism — tendency
  • Ukrainian: етноцентри́зм (etnocentrýzm) — tendency