Etymology

speciesism

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Today it means: An ethical stance that assigns different worth or rights to beings on the basis of their species membership, such as assigning greater rights to human beings than to other animals. Full definition →

First used 1970
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The story

Coined by British animal rights advocate Richard D. Ryder in 1970 from species + -ism.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 1970 An ethical stance that assigns different worth or rights to beings on the basis of their species membership, such as assigning greater rights to human beings than to other animals.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.