*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of meism

Etymology tree Middle English me English me Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-Eur

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
noun

Egotism; a focus on, or obsession with, oneself.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Etymology tree Middle English me English me Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English meism From me + -ism.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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        "1": "en",
        "2": ":af",
        "3": "me",
        "4": "-ism",
        "text": "+",
        "tree": "1"
      },
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    },
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    }
  ],
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      "me",
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    ],
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      "*-id-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-id-"
    ],
    [
      "*-yéti",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-yéti#Proto-Indo-European:_intransitive_verbs"
    ],
    [
      "*-idyéti",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-idyéti"
    ],
    [
      "*-íd͏̌d͏̌ō",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Hellenic/-íd͏̌d͏̌ō"
    ],
    [
      "-ῐ́ζω",
      "-ίζω#Ancient_Greek:_verbal"
    ],
    [
      "*-mos",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-mos"
    ],
    [
      "*-mós",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-mós"
    ],
    [
      "-μός",
      "-μός#Ancient_Greek:_abstract_noun"
    ],
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      "-ισμός",
      "-ισμός#Ancient_Greek:_abstract_noun"
    ],
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      "-ism",
      "-ism#English"
    ],
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      "me",
      "me#English"
    ],
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      "-ism",
      "-ism#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "Egotism; a focus on, or obsession with, oneself."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ],
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      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 738622
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    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
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}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for meism →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-bWVpc20