Buddhism

How to spell buddhism

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce buddhism

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does buddhism mean?

1. nounThe religion and philosophy founded on the teachings of the Buddha, centred on enlightenment and the end of suffering.

Buddhism in a sentence

• She travelled to Thailand to study buddhism at a forest monastery.

• The lecture compared the core ideas of buddhism with those of Hinduism.

Where does buddhism come from?

Language of origin: Sanskrit

This word descends from the Sanskrit buddha, meaning 'awakened' or 'enlightened', the past participle of the verb budh, which literally meant 'to awake', 'to know', or 'to perceive'. The title was given to Siddhartha Gautama, the Indian teacher who, according to tradition, attained enlightenment and so became 'the awakened one'. English speakers built the modern term by adding the Greek-derived suffix -ism, used to name systems of belief or practice, onto this honorific. The word appears in English from the early nineteenth century, as scholars and colonial administrators began writing about Asian religions. The spelling trap lives in the middle: the Sanskrit root supplies the doubled letters in 'ddh', an aspirated sound English does not really make, which is exactly why writers tend to drop a letter and produce 'budism' or 'buddism'.

How the word is built

• buddh- (from Sanskrit buddha: awakened one)
• -ism (system of belief or practice)