ageism

English

Alternative forms

• agism (less common and sometimes deprecated)

Etymology

From age +‎ -ism. Coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈeɪd͡ʒ.ɪzm̩/, /ˈeɪd͡ʒ.ɪz.əm/
• Hyphenation: age‧ism

Noun

ageism (countable and uncountable, plural ageisms)

1. The treating of a person or people, especially older people, differently from others based on assumptions, prejudices or/and stereotypes relating to their age.
2. (Should we delete⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) Bias against older adults (typically those in their sixties or older, but other times even younger if not even before middle-age).

Hypernyms

• bias
• discrimination
• inequity
• injustice
• prejudice

Hyponyms

• youthism

Coordinate terms

• ableism
• antireligiousness
• antisemitism
• bigotry
• chauvinism
• ethnocentrism
• heterosexism
• homophobia
• islamophobia
• racism
• sexism
• transphobia

Related terms

• age
• ageist

Translations

the treating of a person or people differently from others based on assumptions or stereotypes relating to their age

• Basque: adinkeria
• Catalan: edatisme m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 年齡歧視 / 年龄歧视

• Dutch: leeftijdsdiscriminatie (nl) f
• Esperanto: aĝismo
• Estonian: vanuseline diskrimineerimine
• Finnish: ikäsyrjintä (fi)
• French: âgisme (fr) m
• German: Altersdiskriminierung (de) f
• Hebrew: גִּילָנוּת (he) f (gilanút)
• Hungarian: please add this translation if you can
• Ido: evismo (io)
• Indonesian: ageisme
• Italian: ageismo (it)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: toihara taipakeke
• Norman: âgisme m
• Polish: ageizm (pl) m
• Portuguese: idadismo (pt) m, etarismo (pt) m, ageísmo (pt) m
• Romanian: ageism n, agism n
• Russian: дискримина́ция по во́зрасту f (diskriminácija po vózrastu), эйджи́зм (ru) m (ejdžízm)
• Slovene: ageizm m
• Spanish: edadismo (es) m, edatismo m
• Swedish: åldersdiskriminering (sv) c, ålderism (sv) c
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: yaş ayrımcılığı
• Vietnamese: phân biệt tuổi tác
• West Frisian: leeftydsdiskriminaasje c

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “ageism”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Giemsa, Megias, gamies, images