Etymologically
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altruisme

Etymology and origin of the French word altruisme

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation, Coinage
First attested
1852, Auguste Comte, Catéchisme positiviste
Ultimate origin
Latin (alter)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French altruisme
English altruism

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /al.tʁɥism/[1]
  • IPA: /al.tʁɥizm/[1]

Forms

altruisme m (plural altruismes)[1]

Etymology

It was coined, as a counterpart to égoïsme, from the stem of autrui (“others”) remodelled after its etymon Latin alter (“other”), with the suffix -isme.[2][3][4][5][6] It seems to have been made by Auguste Comte about 1830, or by one of his teachers at the École polytechnique, François Andrieux.[3][4][5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Comte's Catéchisme positiviste (1852) it is the set of benevolent inclinations of the individual, whose prevailing over egoism is “the great human problem”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

For Comte altruisme was an innate disposition to goodwill towards others that coexists with egoism.[3][2] Its sense widened in ethics to any conduct that puts others' interests before one's own without a religious motive, and in philosophy to a doctrine making devotion to others the rule of morality.[3][7] The adjective altruiste is also in Comte (1852).[3] The word passed into English as altruism.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 1830 – Coined by Comte or Andrieux.[3][4]
  • 1852 – Altruisme and altruiste in the Catéchisme positiviste.[2][3]
  • 1893 – Durkheim: “wherever there are societies, there is altruism”.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Altruism, unselfish concern for the good of others.[7][8]
  2. (philosophy) The doctrine that devotion to others is the rule of morality.[7]

Word family

  • altruiste

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 355a
  7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Altruisme.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/altruisme. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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