"adherent of the metaphysical doctrine of monism" in any sense, 1836, from Greek monos "single" (from PIE root *men- (4) "small, isolated") + -ist. Also see monism. Related: Monistic.
Entries linking to monist
*men- 4
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "small, isolated."
It forms all or part of: malmsey; manometer; monad; monarchy; monastery; monism; monist; monk; mono; mono-; monoceros; monochrome; monocle; monocular; monogamy; monogram; monolith; monologue; monomania; Monophysite; monopoly; monosyllable; monotony.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Greek monos "single, alone," manos "rare, sparse;" Armenian manr "thin, slender, small."
-ist
word-forming element meaning "one who does or makes," also used to indicate adherence to a certain doctrine or custom, from French -iste and directly from Latin -ista (source also of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian -ista), from Greek agent-noun ending -istes, which is from -is-, ending of the stem of verbs in -izein, + agential suffix -tes.
Variant -ister (as in chorister, barrister) is from Old French -istre, on false analogy of ministre. Variant -ista is from Spanish, popularized in American English 1970s by names of Latin-American revolutionary movements.
monism n.
a word used in philosophy and metaphysics of systems of thought which deduce all phenomena from a single principle (1832); also "the doctrine that only one being exists" (1862), from German Monism (by 1818) or directly from Modern Latin monismus, from Greek monos "alone" (from PIE root *men- (4) "small, isolated"); also see -ism. First used in German by German philosopher Baron Christian von Wolff (1679-1754), who applied it to those who deny the substantiality either of mind or matter. Fowler defines it as "any view of that makes the universe consist of mind with matter as a form of mind, or of matter with mind as a form of matter, or of a substance that in every part of it is neither mind nor matter but both," and writes that it is a contrast to dualism.