"tenets, practices, and religious system of the Sikhs," 1849, from Sikh + -ism.
Entries linking to sikhism
Sikh n.
1781, member of a politico-religious community established c. 1500 in Punjab by Nanak Shah, from Hindi sikh "disciple," from Sanskrit siksati "studies, learns," which is related to saknoti "he is able, he is strong" (see Shakti).
-ism
word-forming element making nouns implying a practice, system, doctrine, etc., from French -isme or directly from Latin -isma, -ismus (source also of Italian, Spanish -ismo, Dutch, German -ismus), from Greek -ismos, noun ending signifying the practice or teaching of a thing, from the stem of verbs in -izein, a verb-forming element denoting the doing of the noun or adjective to which it is attached. For distinction of use, see -ity. The related Greek suffix -isma(t)- affects some forms.