You may recall exploring the word culture in an earlier lesson. It’s a short word that holds a world of important ideas. Culture can mean the things that an entire society creates, such as art, music, dance, theater, and literature. But it can also mean the beliefs and values that a group of people embrace.

Based on these meanings, what do you think the word multiculturalism might mean? It starts with the root culture and builds on it with a prefix and two suffixes. The best way to understand multiculturalism is to start at the word’s root and work your way out, one affix at a time. Click each part of the word to review what that part means.

If you put all of these parts together, you get something like this as a definition: the idea or condition of embracing multiple cultures at the same time.