altruistic

Etymology

The OED takes it as borrowed from French altruiste, an adjective used by Auguste Comte in his “Catéchisme positiviste” (1852), with the English suffix -ic.^[2] Etymonline derives it from altruist with the same suffix,^[3] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Dictionary.com from altruism with -istic.^[4][5][6] French altruisme was formed by Comte or his followers from autrui (“somebody else, others”) and -isme, after égoïsme, with the first syllable altered after Latin alter (“other”);^[2][3] autrui goes back to Late Latin alteri huic (“to this other”), from alterī, the dative of alter.^[2] The American Heritage Dictionary instead takes the French word as probably from Italian altrui (“someone else”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of, relating to or marked by altruism; selfless: 1853, in G. H. Lewes's Comte's Philosophy of the Sciences.^[2][4][3] The OED records altruism from 1852.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word arrived with Comte's positivist philosophy, in which altruism was opposed to selfishness or egoism.^[2] It soon passed into general use for any unselfish concern for others,^[4][2] and the 1989 edition of the OED still glossed it also as "benevolent".^[8] The noun altruism later took a technical sense in zoology, behaviour that benefits other animals at a cost to the individual, recorded from 1874.^[2]

Timeline

• 1853 – of or relating to altruism; unselfish.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Showing or motivated by unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selfless: She gave the reward to the shelter out of purely altruistic motives.^[4][2]
2. Of or relating to altruism.^[4][2]

Word family

• altruistically
• hyperaltruistic
• nonaltruistic

Related words

• altruism
• altruist
• alter

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press