ism
/ˈɪz.əm/noun
ism is spelled I-S-M: 3 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 26,776th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ism means “An ideology, system of thought, or practice that can be described by a word ending in -ism” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ism is isms.
How many letters and syllables are in ism?
| Letters | 3: I-S-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.1 times per million words; the 26,776th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is ism?
Ism appears 1.1 times per million words in written English, the 26,776th 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 ism?
- /ˈɪz.əm/
Ism has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl--ism.wav, En-us-ism.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with ism?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as ism.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: sim.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of ism
- isms plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ism mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An ideology, system of thought, or practice that can be described by a word ending in -ism.
- 2
A form of discrimination, such as racism or sexism.
noun
- 1
Initialism of Imperial Service Medal.
- 2
Abbreviation of interstellar medium.
- 3
Initialism of industrial scientific medical.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ism in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
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 ism come from?
From the suffix -ism (“belief”), particularly (in the 19th century) in the sense of "social movement". Compare phobia, from -phobia, sophy, from -sophy, itis, from -itis, and ana, from -ana.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).