-holism

See also: holism

English

Etymology

From alcoholism, one of the first addictions to be widely identified both medically and socially. It should be noted that the word alcoholism is broken up into the root, alcohol, and the suffix -ism, not alco and -holism. The suffix -holism is thus a result of false splitting.

Suffix

-holism

1. A form of addiction, either a physical or obsessive dependency.

Usage notes

• The term -holism is not an accepted medical term, but is a fairly prominent neologism.

Derived terms

English terms suffixed with -holism

sexaholism

talkaholism

Wikiholism

Wikipediholism

• chocoholism
• sexaholism
• shopaholism
• workaholism

Related terms

• -ist
• -istic