Where does “perfectionism” come from?
Perfectionism derives from English perfection combined with the suffix -ism, from Latin perfectio (a completing or finishing), from Latin -tio (nominalizing suffix), from Proto-Indo-European -ti- and -tis (action noun formatives).
perfectionism (English): An unwillingness to settle for anything less than...
Definitions
- An unwillingness to settle for anything less than...
Ancestry of “perfectionism”, step by step
perfectionism traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English perfection
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | perfection | The quality or state of being perfect or... |
| 2 | Old French | perfection | — |
| 3 | Latin | perfectio | finishing, completion; perfection |
| 4 | Latin | -tiō | tion, -ation, -ing |
| 5 | Latin | dissertātiō | (spoken) dissertation, discourse, disquisition |
| 6 | Latin | dissertus | arranged, disposed; explained |
| 7 | Latin | disserere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 8 | Latin | dis- | asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;... |
| 9 | Latin | calceus | shoe |
| 10 | Latin | calx | limestone; chalk; the finish line |
| 11 | Ancient Greek | χάλιξ | small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble |
via French perfectionnisme
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | perfectionnisme | perfectionism (a dislike for anything less than perfection) |
| 2 | French | -ïsme | -ism, variant of -isme following vowels |
| 3 | Latin | -isma | Alternative form of -ismus; -ism |
| 4 | Latin | -ismus | -ism |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | -ισμός | Forms abstract nouns |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | -μός | Forms abstract nouns |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -mós | Creates action/result nouns from verb stems |