文化
Meaning in Englishculture
Animated kanji stroke order
Related sentences
Word context
What it means
Culture refers to the shared system of meanings, practices, arts, languages, and institutions that define a society’s way of life. It is learned and transmitted across generations and shapes how people think, communicate, and relate to one another.
Main meanings
- Abstract concept of a society’s shared meanings, values, and norms that guide behavior and identity
- Expressions of arts, knowledge, and heritage such as literature, music, rituals, and traditions
- Social systems and institutions that organize daily life and collective practice
- Cross-cultural awareness and understanding in intercultural communication
- anthropological usage describing learned patterns that distinguish groups
How to use it
In formal writing and academic discourse 文化 denotes the concept of a society’s shared patterns of meaning; in journalism and education it describes arts, heritage, and social norms; in everyday language it appears in phrases about traditions or a place’s atmosphere, often paired with adjectives like 文化的 and nouns like 文化遺産 or 文化政策.
Variants and close terms
- 文明 (bunmei) — civilization
- 風習 (fūshū) — customs
- 習慣 (shūkan) — habits
- 風土 (fūdo) — local culture, atmosphere
Composition
- 文 (bun, writing, literature)
- 化 (ka, change)
- Note: together they express the idea of cultivation and refinement of a society’s shared life
Etymology
文化 is read bunka in Japanese, a Sino-Japanese on'yomi borrowed from Chinese wenhua; it is etymologically formed from 文 and 化, with bun referring to writing, literature, and culture, and ka meaning change or transformation; the pronunciation bunka reflects the Chinese origin wenhua.
Origin
In classical Japanese the notion of refinement and learning influenced usage from early periods, with the term gaining broader meaning in Edo and Meiji as arts, institutions, and national culture were framed within modernization and cultural policy.
Word class
noun (名詞)