-icism

Forms abstract nouns from Greek or Latin bases.

Suffix

  1. Forms abstract nouns from Greek or Latin bases.

Origin

From -ic + -ism, either based directly on the adjective in -ic (as in asceticism, mysticism), or on the verb in -ise (as in anglicism). Some productivity within English, as in witticism (1670s, by analogy with criticism).

Derived

academicism aestheticism agnosticism anglicism athleticism classicism criticism cynicism eclecticism empiricism esotericism fanaticism pedanticism stoicism witticism