Etymograph

English

agriculture

Agriculture comes from Middle English agriculture, partly from Middle French agriculture and partly from Latin agricultūra (ager ‘field’ + cultūra).

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagricultūra1
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600agriculture1uncertain
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500agriculture1
  4. Englishtodayagriculture1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English agriculture

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagricultūraWiktionary, English agriculture
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600agricultureWiktionary, English agricultureuncertain
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500agricultureWiktionary, English agriculture
  4. EnglishtodayagricultureWiktionary, English agriculture

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with agriculture, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Italic *kʷelō ‘to inhabit’

  • cultivation ← cultīvō ← cultus ← colō
  • cultivate ← cultivātus ← cultivō ← cultus ← colō

through Latin colō ‘to cultivate the land, till, tend, take care of a field or garden’

  • colony ← colane ← colōnia ← colōnus
  • cult ← culte ← cultus
  • coulee ← couler

through Latin cultūra ‘care, cultivation’

193 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun The art or science of cultivating the ground, including the growing and harvesting of crops, and the rearing and management of livestock.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “agriculture”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin agricultūra / agriculture