civilization

English

Wikiquote

Alternative forms

• civilisation (UK)

Etymology

Borrowed from French civilisation.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌsɪv.ɪ.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): [ˌsɪv.ə.lɑeˈzæɪ.ʃən]
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌsɪv.ə.ləˈzeɪ.ʃən/

Audio (US)

(file)

Noun

civilization (countable and uncountable, plural civilizations)

1. An organized culture encompassing many communities, often on the scale of a nation or a people; a stage or system of social, political, or technical development.

   the Aztec civilization

   Western civilization

   Modern civilization is a product of industrialization and globalization.

2. (uncountable) Human society, particularly civil society.

   A hermit doesn't much care for civilization.

   I'm glad to be back in civilization after a day with that rowdy family.

3. The act or process of civilizing or becoming civilized.

   The teacher's civilization of the child was no easy task.

4. The state or quality of being civilized.

   He was a man of great civilization.

5. (obsolete) The act of rendering a criminal process civil.

Synonyms

• (large-scale stage of societal development): culture, order
• (group of countries): sphere
• (act of civilizing): education, acculturation
• (preferred human society): home, the land of the living

Derived terms

• civilizational
• civilizationally

Related terms

• civilize

Translations

organized culture

• Albanian: qytetërim (sq), kulturë (sq)
• Amharic: ስልጣኔ m (səlṭane), ሥልጣኔ m (śəlṭane)
• Arabic: حِضَارَة‎ (ar) f (ḥiḍāra), تَمَدُّن‎ m (tamaddun), مَدَنِيَّة‎ f (madaniyya)

  Egyptian Arabic: حضارة‎ f (ḥaḍāra)

• Armenian: քաղաքակրթություն (hy) (kʿałakʿakrtʿutʿyun)
• Asturian: civilización f
• Azerbaijani: sivilizasiya, mədəniyyət (az)
• Belarusian: цывіліза́цыя f (cyvilizácyja)
• Bengali: সভ্যতা (bn) (sôbbhta)
• Breton: sevenadur (br) m
• Bulgarian: цивилиза́ция (bg) f (civilizácija)
• Burmese: ယဉ်ကျေးမှု (my) (yanykye:hmu.)
• Catalan: civilització (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 文明 (zh) (wénmíng), 文化 (zh) (wénhuà)

• Coptic: ⲓⲉⲃⲟⲩⲱⲓⲛⲓ m (iebouōini)
• Czech: civilizace (cs) f
• Danish: civilisation c, kultur (da) c
• Dutch: beschaving (nl) f
• Esperanto: civilizo (eo)
• Estonian: tsivilisatsioon
• Faroese: mentan f, siðmenning f
• Finnish: kulttuuri (fi), sivilisaatio (fi)
• French: civilisation (fr) f
• Galician: civilización (gl) f
• Georgian: ცივილიზაცია (ka) (civilizacia)
• German: Zivilisation (de) f, Kultur (de) f
• Greek: πολιτισμός (el) m (politismós)
• Hebrew: צִיוִילִיזַצְיָה / ציוויליזציה‎ (he) f (tsivilizátsia)
• Hindi: सभ्यता (hi) f (sabhyatā)
• Hungarian: civilizáció (hu)
• Icelandic: siðmenning f
• Irish: sibhialtacht f
• Italian: civiltà (it) f
• Japanese: 文明 (ja) (ぶんめい, bunmei)
• Kazakh: өркениет (örkenïet)
• Khmer: អរិយធម៌ (km) (ʾaʾreyaʾ thɔə)
• Korean: 문명 (ko) (munmyeong), 문화 (ko) (munhwa)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ئاوەدانی‎ (ku) (AwadAni)

• Kyrgyz: цивилизация (tsivilizatsiya), маданият (ky) (madaniyat)
• Lao: ອາລິຍະທຳ (lo) (’ā li nya tham)
• Latvian: civilizācija (lv) f
• Lithuanian: civilizacija f
• Macedonian: цивилизација f (civilizacija)
• Malay: tamadun (ms), peradaban
• Maltese: ċiviltà f
• Maori: puāwaitanga
• Mongolian: соёл иргэншил (sojol irgenšil)
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: sivilisasjon (no) m
• Ottoman Turkish: مدنیت‎ (medeniyyet), تمدن‎ (temeddün)
• Pashto: تمدن‎ (ps) m (tamadón)
• Persian: تمدن‎ (fa) (tamaddon), مدنیت‎ (fa) (madaniyyat)
• Polish: cywilizacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: civilização (pt) f
• Romanian: civilizație (ro) f, cultură (ro) f
• Russian: цивилиза́ция (ru) f (civilizácija), культу́ра (ru) f (kulʹtúra)
• Rusyn: цівіліза́ція f (civilizácija)
• Sanskrit: सभ्यता (sa) f (sabhyatā)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: цивилизација f

  Roman: civilizácija (sh) f

• Slovak: civilizácia f
• Slovene: civilizacija (sl) f
• Spanish: civilización (es) f
• Swedish: civilisation (sv) c, kultur (sv) c
• Tagalog: kabihasnan (tl)
• Tajik: тамаддун (tamaddun), маданият (madaniyat)
• Thai: อารยธรรม (th) (aa-rá-yá-tam)
• Tigrinya: ስልጣኔ (səlṭane)
• Turkish: ekinç, medeniyet (tr), uygarlık (tr)
• Turkmen: medeniýet
• Ukrainian: цивіліза́ція (uk) f (cyvilizácija)
• Urdu: تہذیب‎ (ur) (tahzīb), تمدن‎ (tamaddun)
• Uzbek: tamaddun (uz), madaniyat (uz), tsivilizatsiya, sivilizatsiya (uz)
• Vietnamese: văn minh (vi)
• West Frisian: beskaving
• Yiddish: ציוויליזאַציע‎ f (tsivilizatsye)

human society

• Danish: civilisation c
• Dutch: bewoonde wereld
• Finnish: sivistys (fi), sivistynyt yhteiskunta
• German: Kultur (de) f
• Greek: πολιτισμός (el) m (politismós)
• Hebrew: צִיוִילִיזַצְיָה / ציוויליזציה‎ (he) f (tsivilizátsia)
• Hungarian: civilizáció (hu)
• Irish: sibhialtacht f

• Italian: civiltà (it) f
• Portuguese: civilização (pt) f
• Romanian: civilizație (ro) f
• Russian: цивилиза́ция (ru) f (civilizácija), культу́ра (ru) f (kulʹtúra)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: цивилизација f

  Roman: civilizácija (sh) f

• Swedish: civilisation (sv) c
• Tagalog: kabihasnan (tl)
• Turkish: insanlık (tr)

act or process of civilizing or becoming civilized

• Asturian: civilización f
• Catalan: civilització (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 文明化 (zh) (wénmínhuà)

• Danish: civilisering c
• Dutch: civilisatie (nl)
• Finnish: sivistäminen (fi), sivistyminen (fi), sivilisaatio (fi)
• Galician: civilización (gl) f
• German: Zivilisiertwerden n
• Greek: πολιτισμός (el) m (politismós)
• Italian: civilizzazione (it) f

• Japanese: 文明化 (ぶんめいか, bunmeika)
• Korean: 문명화 (munmyeonghwa)
• Maori: puāwaitanga, whakapuāwaitanga
• Portuguese: civilização (pt) f
• Romanian: civilizare (ro) f
• Russian: цивилиза́ция (ru) f (civilizácija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: цивилизираност f

  Roman: civilìzīranōst (sh) f

• Swedish: civilisering c
• Turkish: medenîleşme, uygarlaşma (tr)

state or quality of being civilized

• Catalan: civilitat (ca) f
• Finnish: sivistyneiyys
• Greek: πολιτισμός (el) m (politismós)
• Irish: sibhialtacht f
• Italian: civiltà (it) f
• Manx: ardveenid f

• Maori: puāwaitanga
• Portuguese: civilização (pt) f
• Romanian: civilitate f
• Russian: цивилизо́ванность (ru) f (civilizóvannostʹ), культу́ра (ru) f (kulʹtúra)
• Turkish: sivilleşme (tr)

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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ^{(please verify)} شارستانێتی‎ (ku) (shAristAneti)

Proper noun

civilization

1. Collectively, those people of the world considered to have a high standard of behavior and / or a high level of development. Commonly subjectively used by people of one society to exclusively refer to their society, or their elite sub-group, or a few associated societies, implying all others, in time or geography or status, as something less than civilised, as savages or barbarians. cf refinement, elitism, civilised society, the Civilised World

Translations

people of the world considered to have a high standard of behavior

• Catalan: civilització (ca) f
• Danish: civilisation c
• Dutch: beschaving (nl)
• German: Zivilisation (de) f
• Hungarian: civilizáció (hu)
• Italian: civiltà (it) f, civilizzazione (it) f
• Korean: 교양인 (ko) (gyoyangin)

• Norwegian: sivilisasjon (no) m
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} تمدّن‎ (fa) (tamaddon)
• Polish: cywilizacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: civilização (pt) f
• Russian: цивилиза́ция (ru) f (civilizácija)
• Swedish: civilisation (sv) c

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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} цивилизация (bg) (civilizacija), ^{(please verify)} цивилизованност (civilizovannost), ^{(please verify)} култура (bg) (kultura)
• Esperanto: (10) ^{(please verify)} civilizo (eo)
• French: ^{(please verify)} civilisation (fr)
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} civilizatio

• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} kulturen f
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} నాగరికత (te) (nāgarikata)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} medeniyet (tr), ^{(please verify)} uygarlık (tr)

Further reading

• civilization in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• civilization in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• civilization at OneLook Dictionary Search
• "civilization" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 57.