tokenism
noun
tokenism is spelled T-O-K-E-N-I-S-M: 8 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 88,353rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, tokenism means “A policy of formally complying with efforts to achieve a goal by making small, token gestures; especially to hire a minimal number of ethnically…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tokenism is tokenisms.
How many letters and syllables are in tokenism?
| Letters | 8: T-O-K-E-N-I-S-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 9 million words; the 88,353rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is tokenism?
Tokenism appears about once in every 9 million words in written English, the 88,353rd 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 tokenism?
Tokenism has 4 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).
Forms of tokenism
- tokenisms plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tokenism mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A policy of formally complying with efforts to achieve a goal by making small, token gestures; especially to hire a minimal number of ethnically diverse or disadvantaged people.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Tokenism in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense policy of formally complying with efforts to achieve a goal by making small, tok:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | tokénisme |
| Portuguese | tokenismo |
| Spanish | tokenismo |
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 tokenism come from?
From token + -ism.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).