altruism

altruism

See also: altruïsm

English

Alternative forms

• altruïsm

Etymology

From French altruisme, which was coined in 1830 by Auguste Comte from autrui (“of or to others”) +‎ -isme, from Old French, from Latin alteri, dative of alter (“other”) (whence also English alter).[1] Apparently inspired by the French Latin legal phrase l'autrui, from le bien, le droit d'autrui (“the good, the right of the other”). Introduced into English by George Henry Lewes in 1853, in his translation Comte’s Philosophy of the Sciences, 1, xxi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæl.tɹu.ɪz.əm/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

Noun

altruism (countable and uncountable, plural altruisms)

1. Regard for others, both natural and moral without regard for oneself; devotion to the interests of others; brotherly kindness.

   Synonyms: selflessness, philanthropy

   Antonyms: egoism, selfishness, misanthropy

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 4293071:

     The preposterous altruism too! […] Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.

   • 1995, George E. Vaillant, The Wisdom of the Ego, page 68,

     Altruism allows doing for others as one would be done by. Unlike reaction formation, which also gives to the object what the self desires, altruism leaves the self at least partly gratified. Unlike reaction formation, altruism tempers asceticism with pleasure. Unlike passive aggression and martyrdom, altruism allows the object to feel blessed and not afflicted. Altruism attracts people to the user; martyrdom repels them even as it holds them close in chains.

2. (biology, sociobiology) Action or behaviour that benefits another or others at some cost to the performer.

   Synonym: philanthropy

   • 2013 December 24, Laura Spinney, Goodwill hunting: Random ants of kindness, New Scientist,

     Altruism is a behaviour of an individual that benefits another at its own expense. […] She decided to investigate what motivates ants to undertake these dangerous missions, where they risk getting trapped themselves or, worse, eaten by predatory antlion larvae, which dig pits and lurk, semi-concealed, at the bottom with their jaws wide open. Such apparently selfless rescue behaviour is seen by many as one of the purest forms of altruism. […] Being nice to relatives is not pure altruism because they share your genes so, by helping them, you promote your own genetic heritage.

Derived terms

• altruist (“one who practises altruism”, agent noun)
• altruistic
• biological altruism
• effective altruism
• reciprocal altruism

Translations

policy that benefits others' interests

Albanian: altruizëm (sq) m Arabic: إِيثَار‎ m (ʾīṯār), غَيْرِيَّة‎ f (ḡayriyya) Armenian: այլասիրություն (hy) (aylasirutʿyun) Asturian: altruísmu m Azerbaijani: altruizm Belarusian: альтруі́зм m (alʹtruízm) Bulgarian: алтруи́зъм (bg) m (altruízǎm) Catalan: altruisme (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 利他主義／利他主义 (zh) (lìtāzhǔyì), 愛他主義／爱他主义 (zh) (àitāzhǔyì), 利他 (zh) (lìtā) Czech: altruismus (cs) m Danish: altruisme (da) c Dutch: altruïsme (nl) n, onbaatzuchtigheid (nl) f Esperanto: altruismo Finnish: altruismi (fi), epäitsekkyys (fi) French: altruisme (fr) m Galician: altruismo (gl) m Georgian: ალტრუიზმი (alṭruizmi) German: Altruismus (de) m, Selbstlosigkeit (de) f, Uneigennützigkeit (de) f Greek: αλτρουισμός (el) m (altrouismós) Hindi: परहितवाद m (parhitvād) Hungarian: altruizmus (hu) Ido: altruismo (io) Indonesian: altruisme (id) Irish: altrúchas m, soilíos m Italian: altruismo (it) m Japanese: 利他主義 (りたしゅぎ, ritashugi), 利他 (りた, rita) Kazakh: альтруизм (altruizm) Korean: 이타주의(利他主義) (ko) (itajuui), 리타주의(利他主義) (ritajuui) (North Korea), 이타(利他) (ita), 리타(利他) (rita) (North Korea), 이타심 (itasim), 리타심 (ritasim) (North Korea) Latvian: altruisms Macedonian: алтруи́зам m (altruízam) Norwegian: Bokmål: altruisme (no) m Persian: ایثار‎ (fa) (isâr), نوع‌دوستی‎ (fa) (now'-dusti) Polish: altruizm (pl) m Portuguese: altruísmo (pt) m Romanian: altruism (ro), generozitate (ro) f Russian: альтруи́зм (ru) m (alʹtruízm) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: алтруѝзам m Roman: altruìzam (sh) m Slovak: altruizmus m Slovene: altruizem m Spanish: altruismo (es) m Swedish: altruism (sv) c Tajik: алтруизм (altruyizm) Turkish: altrüizm (tr), diğerkâmlık (tr) Ukrainian: альтруї́зм (uk) m (alʹtrujízm) Uzbek: altruism Vietnamese: chủ nghĩa vị tha

See also

• agape (“spiritual love for others”)
• bell the cat
• brotherly love
• misandry (“hatred of males”)
• misogyny (“hatred of females”)
• selflessness

References

1. Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “altruism”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

• altruism on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• altruism in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• altruism in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

Anagrams

• muralist, traulism, ultraism

---

Romanian

Etymology

From French altruisme.

Noun

altruism n (uncountable)

1. altruism

Declension

declension of altruism (singular only)

	singular
n gender	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) altruism	altruismul
genitive/dative	(unui) altruism	altruismului
vocative	altruismule

---

Swedish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌaltrɵˈɪsm/

Noun

altruism c

1. altruism

Declension

Declension of altruism
	Uncountable
	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	altruism	altruismen	—	—
Genitive	altruisms	altruismens	—	—

Related terms

• altruistisk
• altruist