permaculture

English

Etymology

Blend of permanent +‎ agriculture, coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in 1978. For a long time Bill Mollison claimed to have copyrighted the word; this was never the case, as copyright law is not applicable to single words.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: per‧ma‧cul‧ture

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

permaculture (countable and uncountable, plural permacultures)

1. (agriculture) Any system of sustainable agriculture that renews natural resources and enriches local ecosystems. [from 1978]
   • 2007, Derek Thomas, Architecture and the Urban Environment, Routledge, →ISBN, page 178:

     in a world where there are competing ends for the use of natural resources, and particularly energy forms, the aim of permaculture is to create productive systems which are ecologically sound and ecologically viable, provide for their own […]

2. The design, installation and maintenance of indefinitely sustainable human communities set in balanced ecologies, both urban and rural.

Derived terms

• permacultural
• permaculturalist
• permaculturist

Translations

agriculture that renews natural resources and enriches local ecosystems

• Finnish: permakulttuuri
• French: permaculture (fr) f
• German: Permakultur f
• Italian: permacultura f
• Maori: ahutoitū
• Polish: permakultura (pl) f
• Portuguese: permacultura (pt) f
• Romanian: permacultură f
• Swedish: permakultur c
• Turkish: permakültür
• Welsh: paramaethu m

Further reading

• permaculture on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

English permaculture; blend of permanent + culture.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛʁ.ma.kyl.tyʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

permaculture f (plural permacultures)

1. permaculture

Italian

Noun

permaculture f

1. plural of permacultura