The rear part of a scene or picture, or the experiences and circumstances that have shaped a person's life.
Compound of 'back' (Old English bæc) and 'ground' (Old English grund). Originally a painting term in the 16th century, it expanded metaphorically to mean a person's history and origins by the 18th century.
The shift from 'background' meaning the physical back of a painting to meaning someone's life story is fascinating—it shows how we unconsciously use spatial metaphors to understand time and identity. We 'put our past behind us' and come from 'different backgrounds' as if biography were geography.
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