Meanings
plural third culture kids · alternative third-culture kid
- A young person who has lived for a significant period outside their birth (or passport) country due to parental work-related migration.First known use mid-20th c.
In 1984, Dr. Ted Ward, then a sociologist at Michigan State University, predicted in a plenary talk at the International Conference for Missionary Kids (ICMK) in Manila that third culture kids were the prototype citizens of the future.
2009, David C. Pollock, Ruth E. Van Reken, Third culture kids: growing up among worlds, page xii1 more example
Her German mother, a surgeon, and her Italian father, a builder, met at a hospital in Burundi. She grew up in Cameroon, Azerbaijan, China and Vietnam because her mother worked for the World Health Organization, and now lives in Canada. She’s a third culture kid who had to try out her jokes in international schools.
2026 September 17, Katrin Bennhold, “Comedians Beyond Borders”, in The New York Times, →ISSNSynonyms: TCK
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA young person who has lived for a significant period outside their birth (or passport) country due to parental work-related migration.
Origin
Coined by American sociologist and anthropologist Ruth Hill Useem in the 1950s. "Third culture" refers to a distinct way of life different from those of the birth or host countries, but common to fellow expats.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
third culture kid. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/third%20culture%20kid
“third culture kid.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/third%20culture%20kid. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “third culture kid,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/third%20culture%20kid.
Source: third culture kid on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.