cultivate
cul·ti·vate/ˈkʌltɪveɪt/verb
cultivate is spelled C-U-L-T-I-V-A-T-E: 9 letters and 3 syllables (cul·ti·vate). It appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,687th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, cultivate means “To grow plants, notably crops” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in cultivate?
| Letters | 9: C-U-L-T-I-V-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: cul·ti·vate |
| In writing | 2.6 times per million words; the 16,687th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is cultivate?
Cultivate appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,687th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce cultivate?
- US /ˈkʌltɪveɪt/
- British /ˈkʌltɪvɛjt/
- /ˈkʊltɪveɪt/
Cultivate has 3 syllables, split cul·ti·vate in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-cultivate.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of cultivate
- cultivates present, singular, he/she/it
- cultivating participle, present
- cultivated participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cultivate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To grow plants, notably crops.
Most farmers in this region cultivate maize.
- 2
To nurture; to foster; to tend.
They tried to cultivate an interest in learning among their students.
- 3
To turn or stir soil in preparation for planting or as a method of weed control between growing crop plants.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cultivate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | cultiver |
| German | kultivieren, anbauen , pflegen , bestellen |
| Portuguese | cultivar, plantar , alimentar , lavrar |
| Spanish | cultivar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does cultivate come from?
From Medieval Latin cultivātus, perfect passive participle of cultivō (“till, cultivate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) for more), from cultīvus (“tilled”), from Latin cultus, perfect passive participle of colō (“till, cultivate”), which comes from earlier *quelō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to move; to turn (around)”). Cognates include Ancient Greek πέλω (pélō) and Sanskrit चरति (cárati). The same Proto-Indo-European root also gave Latin in-quil-īnus (“inhabitant”) and anculus (“servant”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).