ethnographic

American  

[eth-nuh-graf-ik] / ˌɛθ nəˈgræf ɪk /

Rarely ethnographical

adjective

1. of or relating to ethnography, the branch of anthropology dealing with the scientific description of individual cultures.

   Ethnographic information indicates that trips to harvest wild hot peppers were important social and economic ventures among Apache peoples in the region.

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Other Word Forms

• ethnographically adverb

Etymology

Origin of ethnographic

ethno- ( def. ) + -graphic ( def. )

Explanation

Anything that describes a specific culture's customs, like a movie about a small village in China or a book about French Canadians, can be described as ethnographic. You're most likely to hear the word ethnographic in an anthropology class, since it's a scientific way to describe books, films, research, or lectures that have to do with the study of human societies and their customs. The word comes from two Greek roots, ethnos, or "people," and grapho, "to write." So if you write a paper about the customs of American teenagers in the 1980s, your work is ethnographic.

Example Sentences

Silverstein’s ethnographic approach to customer research helped form Coach’s marketing strategy to keep them coming after the trend waned.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 25, 2026

Anthropologist Emma Tarlo, author of a richly detailed ethnographic work of the period, wrote that during the Emergency, the poor were subjected to "forced choices".

From BBC • Jun. 24, 2025

For Morin and his colleagues, the study was its own exercise in endurance: They spent more than 5 years exploring the ethnographic literature and other sources, surveying more than 8000 texts spanning about 500 years.

From Science Magazine • May 12, 2024

During his lifetime, Mr. Horniman amassed a collection of ethnographic objects, natural history specimens and musical instruments.

From New York Times • Mar. 4, 2024

David Braman’s ethnographic research shows that mass incarceration, far from reducing the stigma associated with criminality, actually creates a deep silence in communities of color, one rooted in shame.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander