Acculture

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /əˈkʌl.t͡ʃɚ/

Definitions

1. The act of incorporating the customs and beliefs of one culture into another results in a blending of cultural practices and a reevaluation of existing societal norms
2. This phenomenon describes the change that occurs when cultural traits from one society are assimilated into another, leading to altered traditions and behaviors
3. To gradually adopt the customs and social patterns of a different culture through direct contact with it

Etymology: "Acculture" is a rare word with two possible routes into English, and the more interesting one runs through its longer relative, "acculturation." The likeliest story is that "acculturation" came first, formed from "culture" with the prefix "ac-" (a form of "ad-," meaning "to" or "toward") and the suffix "-ation," and that "acculture" was then back-formed from it, meaning the verb was carved out by dropping the ending of the noun. Back-formation is a common way English gains verbs, so this is a familiar pattern rather than a mistake. The other possibility is that "acculture" was built directly from "ac-" and "culture," with the same meaning of moving toward or taking on another culture. The two explanations are hard to separate, so the safest reading is that the verb and the longer noun grew up together, both pointing to the idea of a person or group absorbing a culture not their own.