totemism
/ˈtoʊtəmɪzəm/
totemism noun: the belief that a person or group has a special mystical relationship to a totem.
Noun
totemism (usually uncountable, plural totemisms)
- The belief that a person or group has a special mystical relationship to a totem.
- This is the common story of superstition, from the totemism of savage tribes and the image-worship of semi-civilized peoples on to the heathenism of the Mass.1883, R. Heber Newton, The Right and Wrong Uses of the Bible
- Although you see some representations of animals or gods in the form of animals, there's really no totemism or animism in Egyptian religion.1995 July 21, Sarah Bryan Miller, “What's New in Ancient Egypt”, in Chicago Reader
totemism meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Arabic and Indonesian
totemism in Tamil
- இனமரபுச்சின்ன முறைமை
totemism in Bengali
- belief in a special relationship to a totem
- টোটেমবাদ ṭōṭembad
totemism in Arabic
- belief in a special relationship to a totem
- طوطمية
totemism in Indonesian
- belief in a special relationship to a totem
- totemisme
More languagesFewer languages
- totemism in Persian
- توتمپرستی
Forms of totemism
| plural | totemisms |
|---|
Origin of totemism
From totem + -ism.
Questions about totemism
- What does totemism mean?
- Totemism means the belief that a person or group has a special mystical relationship to a totem.
- What is totemism in Tamil?
- Totemism in Tamil is இனமரபுச்சின்ன முறைமை. See Totemism meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is totemism?
- Totemism is a noun.
- How do you pronounce totemism?
- Totemism is pronounced /ˈtoʊtəmɪzəm/.
- What is the plural of totemism?
- The plural of totemism is totemisms.
Words near totemism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: totemism (page history and authors); totemism (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-totemism.wav.
Cite this entry: “totemism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/totemism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.