cult

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From French culte, from Latin cultus (“care, adoration; cult”), from colō (“cultivate; protect”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kʌlt/

  Rhymes: -ʌlt

Noun

cult (plural cults)

1. (offensive, derogatory) A group of people with a religious, philosophical or cultural identity sometimes viewed as a sect, often existing on the margins of society or exploitative towards its members.
2. Devotion to a saint.

Derived terms

• cargo cult
• cultic
• cultist

Translations

a sect

• Arabic: شيعة (ar) (šīʕa) f
• Belarusian: культ (be) (kul't) m
• Bulgarian: култ (bg) (kult) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 邪教 (cmn) (xiéjiào), 異教 (cmn), 异教 (cmn) (yìjiào)

• Esperanto: sekto (eo), kulto (eo)
• Finnish: lahko (fi), uskonlahko (fi), kultti (fi)
• French: secte (fr) f, culte (fr) m
• German: Sekte (de) f
• Greek: αίρεση (el) (aíresi) f, λατρεία (el) (latreía) f
• Hebrew: כת (he) (kat) f
• Indonesian: sekte (id)
• Italian: culto (it) m
• Japanese: カルト (ja) (karuto)

• Latin: cultus (la) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kult (nb)

  Nynorsk: kult (nn)

• Polish: sekta (pl) f
• Russian: культ (ru) (kul't) m, секта (ru) (sékta) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: култ (sh) m

  Roman: kult (sh) m

• Swedish: sekt (sv)
• Tagalog: (literally) kulto (tl)
• Turkish: kült (tr)
• Ukrainian: культ (uk) (kul't) m

devotion to a saint

• Bulgarian: култ (bg) (kult) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 崇拜 (cmn) (chóngbài)

• Esperanto: kulto (eo)
• Finnish: kultti (fi)
• French: culte (fr) m
• German: Kult (de) m, Kultus (de) m

• Greek: θρησκεία (el) (thriskeía) f, δόγμα (el) (dógma) n
• Hebrew: פולחן (he) (pulkhan) m
• Italian: culto (it) m
• Japanese: 崇拝 (ja) (すうはい, sūhai)
• Polish: kult (pl) m
• Russian: культ (ru) (kul't) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Maltese: kult

• Norwegian: kult (no)
• Spanish: secta (es) f

See also

• sect

Adjective

cult (not comparable)

1. Of, or relating to a cult.
2. Enjoyed by a small, loyal group.

   a cult horror movie

Usage notes

The term has a positive connotation for groups of art, music, writing, fiction, and fashion devotees, but a negative connotation for new religious, extreme political, questionable therapeutic, and pyramidal business groups.

Translations

of, or relating to a cult

• Bulgarian: култов (bg) (kultov)

• Finnish: kultti- (fi), lahkolais- (fi)

enjoyed by a small, loyal group

• Bulgarian: култов (bg) (kultov)
• Finnish: kultti- (fi)
• French: culte (fr)

• German: Kult- (de)
• Russian: культовый (ru) (kúl'tovyj)
• Turkish: kült (tr)

Anagrams

• CLUT