Acculturating

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of modifying one’s behaviors and customs to fit within a different culture while still maintaining elements of one's original identity involves reciprocal influence and learning
2. Engaging in the adjustment to another cultural framework entails altering personal practices and assimilating new habits, all while holding on to familiar cultural traits
3. The process of adapting one's cultural practices and beliefs to incorporate aspects of another culture includes maintaining connections to one's original identity and fostering mutual understanding

Etymology: "Acculturating" is the present participle of "acculturate", which is a back-formation from "acculturation". The noun came first, and the verb was carved out of it afterward: speakers saw "-ation" as a noun ending, so they removed it and produced a new verb. That kind of reverse derivation is common in English, and it is why many verbs look like they should have come before their nouns. The first recorded use of "acculturate" dates to 1923. The word arrived at a time when anthropologists and sociologists were trying to describe what happens when people from one culture adopt the customs of another, and "acculturation" and its verb gave them a neutral, technical way to say so. Because the root sense is simply "to take on culture", the word carries no judgment on its own; the act is described, not praised or condemned.

Synonyms: adapting, assimilating, integrating