Etymology

ironism

I1R1O1N1I1S1M3

Today it means: A state of doubt regarding one's own "vocabulary" (set of communicative beliefs) that cannot be removed by making arguments in that vocabulary. Full definition →

Ancient Greek εἴρων
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromεἴρων“one who says less than they think”
  2. English todayironism

Coined by American philosopher Richard Rorty, from Ancient Greek εἴρων (eírōn, “one who says less than they think”). By surface analysis, irony + -ism.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.