-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

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

Usage notes

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

Derived terms

Related terms