State or condition resulting from an excess of something specified: 表…由引起的状态：因某种事物过多而造成的状态或状况： strychninism. 马钱子碱中毒
Distinctive or characteristic trait: 显著的或典型的特性： Latinism. 拉丁性格
Doctrine; theory; system of principles: 主义：教条；理论；系统的原则： pacifism. 和平主义；不抵抗主义
An attitude of prejudice against a given group: 对某一集团的偏见态度： racism. 种族主义
语源
Middle English -isme 中古英语 -isme
from Old French 源自 古法语
from Latin -ismus 源自 拉丁语 -ismus
from Greek -ismos [n. suff.] 源自 希腊语 -ismos [名词后缀]
-ism
suffix forming nouns
indicating an action, process, or result
⇒criticism
⇒terrorism
indicating a state or condition
⇒paganism
indicating a doctrine, system, or body of principles and practices
⇒Leninism
⇒spiritualism
indicating behaviour or a characteristic quality
⇒heroism
indicating a characteristic usage, esp of a language
⇒colloquialism
⇒Scotticism
indicating prejudice on the basis specified
⇒sexism
⇒ageism
Origin
from Old French -isme, from Latin -ismus, from Greek -ismos
-ism
Word Origin
1
a suffix appearing in loanwords from Greek, where it was used to form action nouns from verbs (baptism); on this model, used as a productive suffix in the formation of nouns denoting action or practice, state or condition, principles, doctrines, a usage or characteristic, devotion or adherence, etc. (criticism; barbarism; Darwinism; despotism; plagiarism; realism; witticism; intellectualism).
Compare -ist, -ize.
Origin
< Greek-ismos, -isma noun suffixes, often directly, often through Latin-ismus, -isma, sometimes through French-isme, German-ismus (all ultimately < Gk)
Related Words
-ist
capitalism
chemism
-istic
-morphism
-mycetes
-isma suffix of nouns denoting action or practice, state or condition, principles, doctrines, a usage or characteristic, etc., as in baptism, barbarism, criticism, Darwinism, plagiarism, realism, Australianism.
ETYMOLOGY Middle English -isme, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French, partly from Latin -isma (from Greek) & partly from Latin -ismus, from Greek -ismos; Greek -isma & -ismos, from verbs in -izein -ize
1. a. act : practice : process criticism plagiarism b. manner of action or behavior characteristic of a (specified) person or thing animalism c. prejudice or discrimination on the basis of a (specified) attribute racism sexism 2. a. state : condition : property barbarianism b. abnormal state or condition resulting from excess of a (specified) thing alcoholism or marked by resemblance to (such) a person or thing giantism 3. a. doctrine : theory : religion Buddhism b. adherence to a system or a class of principles stoicism 4. characteristic or peculiar feature or trait colloquialism
-ism
/ɪzəm/
suffix
forming nouns 构成名词：
1.
denoting an action or its result
表示“行动”或其“结果”：
baptism
exorcism.
■ denoting a state or quality
表示“状态”, “特征”, “特性”：
barbarism.
2.
denoting a system, principle, or ideological movement
表示“制度”, “原则”, “意识形态”, “主义”, “学说”：
Anglicanism
feminism
hedonism.
■ denoting a basis for prejudice or discrimination
表示“偏见”, “歧视”：
racism.
3.
denoting a peculiarity in language
表示“特色语言表达”：
colloquialism
Americanism.
4.
denoting a pathological condition
表示“病态”：
alcoholism.
词源
from French -isme, via Latin from Greek -ismos, -isma.
-ism, suffixrepr. F. -isme, L. -ismus, a. Gr. -ισµός, forming nouns of action from verbs in -ίζειν, e.g. βαπτίζειν to dip, baptize, βαπτισµός the action of dipping, baptism. An allied suffix was -ισµα(τ-), which more strictly expressed the finished act or thing done, and which in some cases is the source of modern -ism.Besides its free use as a suffix forming vbs. on ordinary ns. and adjs., -ίζειν was (as mentioned under -ize) affixed to national names, with the sense to act or ‘play’ the people in question, and hence to act like, do after the manner of, practise the habits, customs, or language of, side with or adhere to the party of, those people. Hence the n. in -ισµός had the sense of acting or doing like, siding with, adhesion to, or speaking like the people in question; e.g. ἀττικίζειν to Atticize, to side with the Athenians, to use the Attic dialect; hence ἀττικισµός, Atticism, a siding with Athens, Attic style of language, etc. The LXX (Esther viii. 17) and N.T. have Ἰουδαίζειν to Judaize, to live like the Jews. The derivative Ἰουδαισµός Judaism, the manner of the Jews, occurs in the LXX (2 Macc. ii. 21). The Latin Jūdaismus occurs in Tertullian (c 200); Jūdaizāre in the Vulgate. Origen (a 250) has Χριστιανίζειν to play the Christian, act the part of a Christian, practise Christian principles, and Justin Martyr (a 150) has Χριστιανισµός the practice of Christians, Christianity. Hence late L. chrīstiānizāre in Tertullian, chrīstiānismus in Tertullian, Augustine and Jerome. On the type of these, -ισµός, -ismus, became the ordinary ending to form names of religious, ecclesiastical, or philosophical systems; thus pāgānismus is cited by Du Cange from a council of 744. The OF.repr. of this, paienisme, paienime, painime (12th c.) is prob. the earliest Fr. example, and appears in Eng. as painime, painim in the 13th c. But, in the modern form and sense, Judaisme is found a 1500, and christianisme (a 1500 in Fr.) c 1525 in Eng. From the 16th c. such formations are numerous.The following are the chief uses of the suffix:1. Forming a simple noun of action (usually accompanying a vb. in -ize), naming the process, or the completed action, or its result (rarely concrete); as in agonism, aphorism, baptism, criticism, embolism, exorcism, magnetism, mechanism, nepotism, organism, plagiarism, ostracism, syllogism, synchronism, volcanism. To this group in Gr. belonged asterism.b. Applied to these, though with affinities to 2, are words in which -ism expresses the action or conduct of a class of persons, as heroism, patriotism, despotism, and the more colloquial blackguardism, busybodyism, desperadoism, priggism, scoundrelism; also the condition of a person or thing, as barbarism, deaf-mutism, orphanism, anomalism, mediævalism, parallelism; also Daltonism; with such nonce-words as bar-maidism, old maidism; all-roundism, cleverism, devil-may-care-ism, well-to-do-ism.2. Forming the name of a system of theory or practice, religious, ecclesiastical, philosophical, political, social, etc., sometimes founded on the name of its subject or object, sometimes on that of its founder. Such are Alexandrianism, Arianism, Arminianism, Brahmanism, Buddhism, Calvinism, Catholicism, Chartism, Christianism, Congregationalism, Conservatism, Epicureanism, Judaism (a 1500), Latitudinarianism, Liberalism, Machiavellism, Muhammadanism, Platonism, Positivism, Presbyterianism, Protestantism, Puritanism, Puseyism, Quakerism, Quietism, Radicalism, Ritualism, Romanism, Socinianism, Taoism, Toryism, Wesleyanism, Whiggism.These pass into terms of more or less temporary currency, as Berkeleyism, Fourierism, Jeremy Benthamism, Layardism, Owenism, St. Simonism; with nonce-words formed ad libitum, as John Bullism, Robert Elsmerism, Mahdiism; and others designating the cult of a person or family, as Bonapartism, Boulangism, Bronteism, Gladstonism, -onianism, Salisburyism, Stuartism, etc.b. More of the nature of class-names or descriptive terms, for doctrines or principles, are agnosticism, altruism, animism, atheism, bimetallism, deism, egoism, egotism, empiricism, evangelism, fanaticism, feminism, heathenism, hedonism, idealism, imperialism, jingoism, libertinism, monachism, naturalism, opportunism, pædobaptism, paganism, polytheism, realism, romanticism, sansculottism, scepticism, stoicism, theism, universalism.These lead the way to nonce-formations of many kinds, often humorous, of which the following are specimens, chiefly from newspapers: anti-slaveryism, anti-state-churchism, anti-whole-hogism, can't-help-myself-ism, know-nothingism, Little-Peddlingtonism, L.S. Deism (after deism), nothing-arianism, 19th-century-ism, other-ism, P.R. B-ism, Primrose-leaguism, red-tapeism, Rule-Britanniaism, self-ism.3. Forming a term denoting a peculiarity or characteristic, esp. of language, e.g.æolism, Americanism, Anglicism, Atticism, Devonshirism, Gallicism, Græcism, Hebraism, Hellenism, Latinism, Orientalism, Scotticism, Southernism, Westernism, etc. To these add such as archaism, classicism, colloquialism, modernism, newspaperism, solecism, sophism, witticism.Also denoting a peculiarity or characteristic of the language, style, or phraseology of a writer, speaker, character in fiction, etc., as Browningism, Carlylism, De Quinceyism, Gibbonism, Montesquieuism, Micawberism, and similar nonce-words without number.Adjectives pertaining in sense to ns. in -ism are formed in -istic; e.g.atheism, atheistic; naturalism, naturalistic. ▸ a. Forming nouns with the sense ‘belief in the superiority of one—— over another’; as racism, sexism, speciesism, etc. b. Forming nouns with the sense ‘discrimination or prejudice against on the basis of——’; as ageism, bodyism, heightism, faceism, lookism, sizeism, weightism, etc.Arising from a reinterpretation of the suffix as used in sense Additions a.
-ism
suffix forming nouns of action, state, condition, doctrine, from French -isme or directly from Latin -isma, -ismus, from Greek -isma, from stem of verbs in -izein. Used as an independent word, chiefly disparagingly, from 1670s.
-ism
[Noun] doctrine, belief, action or conduct:
formalism
-ism/ɪz(ə)m/suffix.
ORIGIN:French-isme, chiefly from Latin-ismus from Greek-ismos forming nouns of action from verbs in -izein, in part also from Latin-isma from Greek, forming nouns expr. something done.
Forming usu. abstract nouns expr. (a) a process or practice or its result, as baptism, criticism, organism, freq. with corresp. verbs in -ize;(b) the conduct characteristic of a class of people, as heroism, patriotism; a (sometimes abnormal) condition of a person or thing, as alcoholism, barbarism, dwarfism, parallelism;(c) (adherence to) a system of theory, belief, or practice (religious, philosophical, political, scientific, etc.), as atheism, Buddhism, Darwinism, feminism, hedonism, Marxism, socialism, Wesleyism; also, a system of discrimination based on a particular criterion, as racism, sexism: usu. with corresp. personal nouns and adjectives in -ist;(d) a peculiarity or characteristic of a nation, individual, etc., esp. in language, as Americanism, colloquialism, Spoonerism.-ism ⇒ Main Entry: M, m
-ism \ˌizəm\noun suffix (-s) Etymology: Middle English -isme, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French -isme, partly from Latin -isma (from Greek), & partly from Latin -ismus, from Greek -ismos 1. a.: act, practice, or process — especially in nouns corresponding to verbs in -ize < criticism > < hypnotism > < plagiarism > b.: manner of action or behavior characteristic of a (specified) person or thing < animalism > < Micawberism > 2. a.: state, condition, or property < barbarianism > < polymorphism > b.: abnormal state or condition resulting from excess of a (specified) thing < alcoholism > < morphinism > c.: abnormal state or condition characterized by resemblance to a (specified) person or thing < mongolism > 3. a.: doctrine, theory, or cult < Buddhism > < Calvinism > < Platonism > < salvationism > < vegetarianism > b.: adherence to a system or a class of principles < neutralism > < realism > < socialism > < stoicism > 4.: characteristic or peculiar feature or trait < colloquialism > < Latinism > < poeticism >
-ism
IPA: /ɪzəm/, /ɪzm̩/
Suffix
Used to form nouns of action or process or result based on the accompanying verb in -ize.
Used to form the name of a system, school of thought or theory based on the name of its subject or object or alternatively on the name of its founder ((when de-capitalized, these overlap with the generic "doctrines" sense below, e.g. Liberalism vs. liberalism):).
Used to form names of a tendency of behaviour, action, state, condition or opinion belonging to a class or group of persons, or the result of a doctrine, ideology or principle or lack thereof.
Used to form names of ideologies expressing belief in the superiority of a certain class within the concept expressed by the root word, or a pattern of behavior or a social norm that benefits members of the group indicated by the root word. ((based on a late 20th-century narrowing of the "terms for a doctrine" sense):)
Ultimately from either Ancient Greek-ισμός (-ismós), a suffix that forms abstract nouns of action, state, condition, doctrine; from stem of verbs in -ίζειν (-ízein) (whence English-ize), or from the related suffix Ancient Greek-ισμα (-isma), which more specifically expressed a finished act or thing done.
Many English nouns in -ism are loans of Greek nouns in -ισμός (mostly via Latin and French), such as baptism from βαπτισμός (loaned from Old French ca. 1300), or Judaism from Ἰουδαισμός (a learned English formation based on Latin, coined ca. 1500). In Late Latin, the -ismus suffix became the ordinary ending for names of religions and ecclesiastical or philosophical systems or schools of thought, thus chrīstiānismus (whence 16th c. Christianism) in Tertullian, a trend continued in Medieval Latin, with e.g. pāgānismus attested by the 8th century. From the 16th century, such formations became very common in English, until the early 18th century mostly restricted to either root words of Greek or Latin origin (heroism, patriotism) or proper names (Calvinism, Lutheranism). Productivity from root words with evidently non-Latin and non-Greek origin dates to the late 18th century (e.g. blackguardism). Reflecting this productivity, use of ism as a standalone noun is attested by Edward Pettit (1680) and becomes common from the mid 18th century. The narrowed sense of forming terms for ideologies based on the belief of superiority is a "draft addition" submitted to OED in 2004, based on coinages such as racism (1932) or sexism (1936) and productive since the 1970s.