feminism
fem·in·ism/ˈfɛmɪnɪz(ə)m/noun
feminism is spelled F-E-M-I-N-I-S-M: 8 letters and 3 syllables (fem·in·ism). It appears 7.1 times per million words in written English, the 8,918th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, feminism means “A social theory or political movement which argues that legal and social restrictions on women must be removed in order to bring about equality of…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of feminism is feminisms.
How many letters and syllables are in feminism?
| Letters | 8: F-E-M-I-N-I-S-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: fem·in·ism |
| In writing | 7.1 times per million words; the 8,918th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is feminism?
Feminism appears 7.1 times per million words in written English, the 8,918th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce feminism?
- UK /ˈfɛmɪnɪz(ə)m/
Feminism has 3 syllables, split fem·in·ism in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-feminism.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of feminism
- feminisms plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does feminism mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A social theory or political movement which argues that legal and social restrictions on women must be removed in order to bring about equality of the sexes in all aspects of public and private life.
- 2
obsoleteThe state of being feminine; femininity.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Feminism in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense the social theory or political movement:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | féminisme |
| German | Feminismus |
| Portuguese | feminismo |
| Spanish | feminismo |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does feminism come from?
From French féminisme circa 1837, ultimately from Latin fēminīnus, from fēmina (“woman”). In the original sense of “women's movement or advocacy”, the French word was probably directly derived from fēmina, as if from Neo-Latin feminismus. First recorded in English in 1851, originally meaning “the state of being feminine”. Sense of “advocacy of women's rights” is from 1895.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).