"national spirit of Canadians," 1875, from Canadian + -ism.
Entries linking to canadianism
Canadian adj.
"pertaining to Canada," 1560s; see Canada. Also as a noun, "native or inhabitant of Canada" (1759).
-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.