View source for -ism

{{Short description|English-language suffix}}
{{wiktionary|lang=en}}
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'''''-ism''''' ({{IPAc-en|-|ˌ|ɪ|z|əm}}) is a [[suffix]] in many [[English grammar|English word]]s, originally derived from the [[Ancient Greek]] suffix {{wikt-lang|grc|-ισμός}} (''{{grc-transl|-ισμός}}''), and reached [[English language|English]] through the [[Latin]] {{Lang|la|-ismus}}, and the [[French language|French]] {{Lang|fr| -isme}}.<ref name=suffix>{{cite encyclopedia |year= 2014 | title= -ism | encyclopedia= Oxford English Dictionary online | publisher= Oxford University Press | location= Oxford |url= http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/100006}} {{subscription required}}</ref> It is used to create abstract nouns of action, state, condition, or doctrine, and is often used to describe [[philosophy|philosophies]], [[theories]], [[religion]]s, [[social movement]]s, [[artistic movements]], [[Lifestyle (social sciences)|lifestyles]],<ref>Such as [[hedonism]] or [[consumerism]]</ref> [[behavior]]s, [[science|scientific phenomena]],<ref>Such as [[magnetism]]</ref> or [[medicine|medical conditions]].<ref>Such as an [[embolism]], [[dwarfism]], or [[priapism]]</ref><ref name=noun>{{cite encyclopedia | year= 2023 | title= ism suffix | encyclopedia= Oxford English Dictionary online |publisher= Oxford University Press | location= Oxford | url= https://www.oed.com/dictionary/ism_suffix| url-access= <!--WP:URLACCESS--> }} {{subscription required}}</ref>

The concept of an -ism may resemble that of a [[grand narrative]].<ref>{{cite book|last1= Prettejohn|first1= Elizabeth|author-link1=Elizabeth Prettejohn|chapter=The Discovery of Greek Sculpture|title=The Modernity of Ancient Sculpture: Greek Sculpture and Modern Art from Winckelmann to Picasso|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eZtCo4FavAkC |series= New Directions in Classics Series|date= 15 September 2012 |volume= 2|location= London|publisher= I.B.Tauris |publication-date= 2012|page= 61|isbn= 9781848859036|quote= [...] another grand narrative, no less compelling than the familiar succession of 'isms' [...]}}</ref>

Skeptics of any given -isms can quote the dictum attributed to [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]]: "All -isms are wasms".<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Braund
 |first1               = Susanna Morton
 |author-link1         = Susanna Braund
 |date                 = 19 July 2005
 |orig-date            = 2002
 |title                = Latin Literature
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=vLDb8oLHxn8C
 |series               = Classical Foundations
 |publisher            = Routledge
 |page                 = 65
 |isbn                 = 9781134646777
 |access-date          = 6 August 2023
 |quote                = As President Eisenhower allegedly said, 'All -isms are wasms'. [...] I hope to avoid the tyranny of the -isms [...].
}}
</ref>

== History ==
The first recorded usage of the suffix ''ism'' as a separate word in its own right was in 1680. By the nineteenth century it was being used by [[Thomas Carlyle]] to signify a pre-packaged [[ideology]]. It was later used in this sense by such writers as [[Julian Huxley]] and [[George Bernard Shaw]]. In the United States of the mid-nineteenth century, the phrase "the isms" was used as a collective derogatory term to lump together the radical social reform movements of the day (such as [[abolitionism|slavery abolitionism]], [[feminism]], [[prohibitionism|alcohol prohibitionism]], [[Fourierism]], [[pacifism]], Technoism, early [[socialism]], etc.) and various spiritual or religious movements considered non-mainstream by the standards of the time (such as [[transcendentalism]], [[Spiritualism (movement)|spiritualism]], [[Mormonism]] etc.). Southerners often prided themselves on the American South being free from all of these pernicious "Isms" (except for alcohol temperance campaigning, which was compatible with a traditional Protestant focus on individual morality).  So on September 5 and 9, 1856, the ''Examiner'' newspaper of [[Richmond, Virginia]], ran editorials on "Our Enemies, the Isms and their Purposes", while in 1858 [[William Gannaway Brownlow|Parson Brownlow]] called for a "Missionary Society of the South, for the Conversion of the Freedom Shriekers, Spiritualists, Free-lovers, Fourierites, and [[atheism|Infidel]] Reformers of the North" (see ''The Freedom-of-thought Struggle in the Old South'' by [[Clement Eaton]]).  In the present day, it appears in the title of a standard survey of political thought, ''Today's Isms'' by William Ebenstein, first published in the 1950s, and now in its 11th edition.

In 2004, the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' added two new draft definitions of -isms to reference their relationship to words that convey injustice:<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040119-094017|doi-access=free|title=Measures of Racism, Sexism, Heterosexism, and Gender Binarism for Health Equity Research: From Structural Injustice to Embodied Harm{{snd}}An Ecosocial Analysis|year=2020|last1=Krieger|first1=Nancy|journal=Annual Review of Public Health|volume=41|pages=37–62|pmid=31765272}}</ref>
* "Forming nouns with the sense 'belief in the superiority of one—over another'; as [[racism]], [[sexism]], [[speciesism]], etc."
* "Forming nouns with the sense '[[discrimination]] or [[prejudice]] against on the basis of—'; as [[ageism]], bodyism, [[heightism]], faceism, [[lookism]], [[sizeism]], [[weightism]], etc."

In December 2015, ''[[Merriam-Webster Dictionary]]'' declared -ism to be the Word of the Year.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/word-of-the-year-2015/-ism|title = The Word of the Year is: -ism {{!}} Merriam-Webster|date = |accessdate = |website = |publisher = |last = |first = }}</ref>

==See also==
For examples of the use of -ism as a suffix:
* [[List of philosophies]]
* [[Glossary of philosophy]]
* [[List of political ideologies]]
* [[List of art movements]]
* {{section link|Discrimination|Types}}
* [[Vandalism]]

==Notes and references==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''[[iarchive:todaysismssocial0000eben|Today's Isms: Socialism, Capitalism, Fascism, Communism, Libertarianism]]'' by Alan Ebenstein, William Ebenstein and Edwin Fogelman (11th ed, Pearson, 1999, {{ISBN|978-0130257147}})
* ''[[iarchive:ismsologies453di0000gold|Isms and Ologies: 453 Difficult Doctrines You've Always Pretended to Understand]]'' by Arthur Goldwag (Quercus, 2007, {{ISBN|978-1847241764}}) ranges from Abolitionism to Zoroastrianism.
* ''[[iarchive:ismsunderstandin00litt|Isms: Understanding Art]]'' by Stephen Little (A & C Black, 2004, {{ISBN|978-0713670110}}), one of a series of similar titles including ''... Architecture'', ''... Modern Art'', ''... Fashion'' and ''... Religions''.
* ''[http://ismbook.com The Ism Book: A Field Guide to Philosophy]'' by Peter Saint-Andre.

{{DEFAULTSORT:ism}}
[[Category:English suffixes]]
[[Category:Belief]]
[[Category:Suffixes of Greek origin]]