The story
From the suffix -ism (“belief”), particularly (in the 19th century) in the sense of "social movement". Compare phobia, from -phobia, sophy, from -sophy, itis, from -itis, and ana, from -ana.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
ism
Today it means: An ideology, system of thought, or practice that can be described by a word ending in -ism. Full definition →