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culta

Culta is the feminine form of the adjective culto in Spanish and Portuguese, meaning educated, cultured, or refined. It describes people, tastes, and things associated with high culture—literature, art, music, and similar domains. The masculine counterpart is culto, and the noun cultura denotes culture in general. Common phrases include una persona culta (a cultured person) and cultura culta (high culture).

The term derives from Latin cultus, meaning cultivation, care, or worship, and shares roots with related Romance-language

In Portuguese and Spanish, the word coexists with cultura and culto; it is often contrasted with cultura

terms
for
cultivation
or
refinement.
In
everyday
usage,
culta
emphasizes
education
and
refined
cultural
affiliation
rather
than
devotional
aspects;
the
worship
sense
is
typically
expressed
with
culto
in
other
grammatical
forms.
popular
(popular
culture).
In
English-language
contexts,
culta
is
usually
encountered
only
as
a
loanword
or
in
discussions
of
Romance-language
usage
and
is
not
a
separate
English
term
with
a
universal
definition.