English edit

Etymology edit

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.[1]

Pronunciation edit

  • Hyphenation: per‧ma‧cul‧ture
  • (file)

Noun edit

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 edit

Translations edit

References edit

  1. ^ Russ Grayson (2010-09-24), “THE PERMACULTURE PAPERS — 6: Trouble and triumph in the new century”, in PacificEdge[1]

Further reading edit

French edit

Etymology edit

Orthographic borrowing from English permaculture; blend of permanent + culture.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

permaculture f (plural permacultures)

  1. permaculture

Italian edit

Noun edit

permaculture f

  1. plural of permacultura