Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “counterculture” come from?

Counterculture derives from English counter- plus culture, which comes from Middle French culture, from Latin cultura, the practice of tilling or cultivating, from colo, to inhabit or tend.

counterculture (English): Any culture whose values and lifestyles are...

Definitions

  1. Any culture whose values and lifestyles are...

Ancestry of “counterculture”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishcultureThe arts, customs, lifestyles, background, and...
2Middle Frenchculturecultivation; culture
3Latincultūra—
4Latincultustilled, cultivated, having been cultivated;...
5Latincoleresecond-person singular future passive indicative...
6LatincoloI till, cultivate the land; I inhabit; I protect,...
7Latinquelo—
8Proto-Italickʷelō—
9Proto-Indo-Europeankʷéleti—
10Proto-Indo-Europeankʷel-to turn

Words derived from “counterculture”

  • counterculturist
  • counterculturism
Every word from Proto-Indo-European kʷel- →