Word.ws English Dictionary

Taoism

/ˈtaʊ̯.ɪzm̩/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

sometimes/ˈdaʊ̯.ɪzm̩/

Taoism proper noun: a Chinese mystical philosophy traditionally founded by Lao-tzu in the 6th century B.C.E. that teaches conformity to the tao by wu wei, naturalness, and simplicity, long closely intertwined with Chinese folk religion and influenced by Buddhism, with which it shares five precepts.

taoism: a Chinese mystical philosophy traditionally founded by Lao-tzu in the 6th century B.C.E. that...
Image: Nyo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Proper noun

Taoism

  1. A Chinese mystical philosophy traditionally founded by Lao-tzu in the 6th century B.C.E. that teaches conformity to the tao by wu wei, naturalness, and simplicity, long closely intertwined with Chinese folk religion and influenced by Buddhism, with which it shares five precepts.
    • The Chinese New Year holiday period, being disrupted this year by the outbreak of a viral illness, has evolved over more than 3,000 years to become the most important of China’s traditional festivals.
      As celebrated in China and in many other places where its known as the Lunar New Year, it is...2020 January 23, David Crary, “Chinese New Year secular now but kept religious underpinning”, in AP News, archived from the original on 15 Jun 2022
    • The philosophical Taoism of the “Tao Te Ching” seeks to remain connected to this “mother of the world,” the formless Tao (meaning “Way” or “Course”), that is seemingly the opposite of all we value, but is actually the source of all we value, as manure is to flowers, as the emptiness of a womb is to...2020 September 16, George Yancy, quoting Brook Ziporyn, “How to Die (Without Really Trying)”, in New York Times, archived from the original on 16 Sep 2020
  2. (Singapore) Traditional Chinese folk religion.
    • Buddhism is the most followed religion in Singapore, with over 40 percent of the population declaring themselves believers, according to the latest census. Most of these practice a form of the religion that incorporates elements of Taoism and traditional Chinese faiths.2010 May 17, Edgar Su, “Lasers, iPods, for a Singapore funeral of a lifetime”, in Miral Fahmy, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 15 Jun 2022, Lifestyle

Taoism meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

Taoism in Hindi

Chinese philosophy founded by Lao-tzu
ताओ धर्म tāo dharm

Taoism in Tamil

Chinese philosophy founded by Lao-tzu
தாவோயியம் tāvōyiyam

Taoism in Marathi

Chinese philosophy founded by Lao-tzu
ताओवाद tāovād, ताओ धर्म tāo dharma

Taoism in Urdu

Taoism
تاؤ مت tao mat
More languagesFewer languages
Taoism in Arabic
طَاوِيَّة ṭāwiyya
Taoism in Malay
Taoisme
Taoism in Indonesian
Taoisme
Taoism in Thai
ลัทธิเต๋า lát-tí-dtǎo
Taoism in Vietnamese
Đạo giáo, đạo Lão, đạo Hoàng Lão, Tiên Đạo
Taoism in Myanmar
တာအိုဘာသာ tauibhasa

Forms of Taoism

alternative formDaoism
alternative formTauism
alternative formTaouism

Origin of Taoism

From Tao + -ism.

Questions about Taoism

What does Taoism mean?
Taoism means a Chinese mystical philosophy traditionally founded by Lao-tzu in the 6th century B.C.E. that teaches conformity to the tao by wu wei, naturalness, and simplicity, long closely intertwined with Chinese folk religion and influenced by Buddhism, with which it shares five precepts.
What is Taoism in Hindi?
Taoism in Hindi is ताओ धर्म (tāo dharm). See Taoism meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is Taoism?
Taoism is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Taoism?
Taoism is pronounced /ˈtaʊ̯.ɪzm̩/.

Words near Taoism in the dictionary

  1. Taocheng
  2. TAOCP
  3. taoiseach
  4. taoiseachs
  5. taoisigh
  6. Taoism
  7. Taoisms
  8. Taoist
  9. Taoistic
  10. Taoistically
  11. Taoists

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Taoism (page history and authors); تاؤ مت (Urdu) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sumxr-Taoism.wav.

Cite this entry: “Taoism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/taoism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.