panzoism

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UK/pænˈzəʊɪzəm/US/pænˈzoʊɪzəm/

noun

The belief that the entire universe is a living thing, or is suffused with life.

Scrabble 21

Meanings

nounpanzoism (uncountable)

alternative panzooism · alternative pan-zoism

  1. archaicrareuncountableThe belief that the entire universe is a living thing, or is suffused with life.

    Why Carus did not use 'hylozoism' is not clear. Regardless, that term is now rarely used, as is also true of the variation panzoism.

    2005, David Skrbina, Panpsychism In The West, page 220
    2 more examples

    He holds that there is a pangenesis or panzoism in all animated being. Now, what is this but the "life" of the old zoologists whom they so ridicule?

    1875, James McCosh, Ideas in Nature Overlooked by Dr. Tyndall, page 37

    But there [is] also panzoism, maintaining that the universe is a living being and has a soul, and anti-intellectualism, holding that genuine intellectual analysis is impossible, both because each thing is infinitely complex and because the removal of a part alters its causal context.

    1918, Edward Gleason Spaulding, The New Rationalism, page 34

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*peh₂-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ph₂énts?
  3. Proto-Hellenic*pánts
  4. Ancient Greekπᾶς (pâs)
  5. Ancient Greekπᾰν- (păn-)
  6. Englishpan-
  7. Englishzoism
  8. Englishpanzoism

From pan- + zoism.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

panzoism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/panzoism

MLA

“panzoism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/panzoism. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “panzoism,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/panzoism.

Source: panzoism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.