English
allocentric
The adjective is derived from allo- (prefix meaning ‘different; other’) + -centric (suffix meaning ‘having a specified object at the centre, or as the focus of attention’).
Proto-Indo-European *ḱéntrom ‘pointed tool’
Proto-Hellenic *kéntron
Ancient Greek κέντρον ‘something with a sharp point: point, spike, spur’
Ancient Greek κεντρικός ‘of or belonging to a cardinal point’
English centric
The story
The adjective is derived from allo- (prefix meaning ‘different; other’) + -centric (suffix meaning ‘having a specified object at the centre, or as the focus of attention’). Sense 3 (‘of a tourist: tending to be adventurous’) was coined by the American travel researcher Stanley C. Plog in a paper presented to the Southern California Chapter of the Travel Research Association on 10 October 1972, which was later published in February 1974.
Today it means
adj Concerned with the interests of others more than one's own; community-minded.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / allocentric