Standard Lemma guide

etic

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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  • /ˈɛtɪk/
  • rhymes with -ɛtɪk

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of or pertaining to analysis of a culture from a perspective situated outside all cultures.

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 phonetic. * Kenneth Lee Pike (1962), With Heart and Mind: A Personal Synthesis of Scholarship and Devotion, page 37: “I have coined the term etic to refer to the detached observer’s view [...]”

Across languages

Translations

7 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: ètic — analyzing a culture from outside
  • Dutch: etisch — analyzing a culture from outside
  • German: etisch — analyzing a culture from outside
  • Greek: ητικός (itikós) — analyzing a culture from outside
  • Polish: etyczny — analyzing a culture from outside
  • Spanish: ético — analyzing a culture from outside
  • Welsh: etig — analyzing a culture from outside