Ageism

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈeɪd͡ʒ.ɪzm̩/

Definitions

1. The unfair practice of treating individuals differently due to their age, which can lead to inequality in various social and professional situations
2. Discrimination against individuals predicated on their age, resulting in unjust biases that affect their experiences and prospects in life
3. The practice of discriminating against individuals based on their age, which can manifest in social, economic, and political contexts

Etymology: Few words are as recent as this one. In 1969, the American gerontologist Robert N. Butler coined "ageism" to name a pattern of prejudice he had been observing against older people, much as racism and sexism named prejudice based on race and sex. Before his coinage, English had no single word for treating someone unfairly because of their age, so the new term filled a real gap. The word is a simple formation: "age," a noun inherited from Old French "age" and ultimately from Latin "aetas," joined to the suffix "-ism," which denotes a doctrine, system, or prejudice based on a particular characteristic. Butler's pattern followed the familiar model of "racism" and "sexism," so the word was easy to recognize and quickly took hold.

Synonyms: age discrimination, age bias, age prejudice