-ism

The English suffix -ism was first used to form a noun of action from a verb. It is taken from the Greek suffix -ismos that likewise forms abstract nouns from verbal stems. An example is baptism, from Greek baptismos "immersion", derived from baptizein, a Greek verb meaning "to immerse". Its usage was later extended to signify larger organized systems and concepts —in belief, ideology, doctrine, and ritual practice.

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 slavery abolitionism, feminism, alcohol prohibitionism, Fourierism, pacifism, early socialism, etc.) and various spiritual or religious movements considered non-mainstream by the standards of the time (such as Transcendentalism, spiritualism or "spirit rapping", Mormonism, the Oneida movement often accused of "free love", 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 strict individual morality). So on September 5th and 9th 1856, the Examiner newspaper of Richmond, Virginia ran editorials on "Our Enemies, the Isms and their Purposes", while in 1858 "Parson" Brownlow" called for a "Missionary Society of the South, for the Conversion of the Freedom Shriekers, Spiritualists, Free-lovers, Fourierites, and 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.

The -ism suffix can be used to express the following concepts

doctrine or philosophy (e.g. pacifism, olympism)
theory developed by an individual (e.g. Marxism)
political movement (e.g. feminism)
artistic movement (e.g. cubism)
action, process or practice (e.g. voyeurism)
characteristic, quality or origin (e.g. heroism)
state or condition (e.g. pauperism)
excess or disease (e.g. botulism)
prejudice or bias (e.g. racism)
characteristic speech patterns (e.g. Yogiism, Bushism)
religion or belief system (e.g. Mormonism)

Many isms are defined as an act or practice by some, while also being defined as the doctrine or philosophy behind the act or practice by others. Examples include activism, altruism, despotism, elitism, optimism, sexism and terrorism.