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DictionaryRoot: -ismos
Greek

-ismos

an action, practice, or system

Forms

  • -ismos
  • -ism — The ending shortened through Latin, French, and English.

Origin

Greek -ismos formed nouns associated with verbs, including many in -izein.

Note

The familiar “system of belief” use is one later development, not its only original function.

1 / 17
A medieval knight in fifteenth-century plate armor checks a conspicuously modern smartphone, making the misplaced technology the central visual contradiction.
noun

anachronism

uh-NAK-ruh-niz-um/əˈnækrənɪzəm/

Something placed in or belonging to a time other than its proper historical period.

Etymology
anaGreekup; back, again
+chronGreektime
+ismGreekan action, practice, or system

“Against” and “time” underlie the idea of referring something to the wrong time. The word expanded from an error in dating to something out of place in a particular period.

Full entry

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