chauvinism
pronunciation
How to pronounce chauvinism in British English:
UK [ˈʃəʊvɪnɪzəm]
How to pronounce chauvinism in American English:
US [ˈʃoʊvɪnɪzəm]
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- Noun:
- fanatical patriotism
- activity indicative of belief in the superiority of men over women
Word Origin
- chauvinism
- chauvinism: [19] Chauvinism in its original sense of ‘blind patriotism’ was coined in French from the name of one Nicholas Chauvin of Rochefort, a (possibly legendary) French soldier and veteran of Napoleon’s campaigns noted for his patriotic zeal. He was taken up and ridiculed as the type of the old soldier forever harking back to the glories of Napoleon’s times, and became widely known particularly through the play La cocarde tricolore 1831 by the brothers Cogniard, in which there occurs the line ‘Je suis français, je suis Chauvin’.Hence French chauvinisme, which first appeared in English in 1870. The word’s more general application to an unreasoning belief in the superiority of one’s own group (particularly in the context male chauvinism) arose around 1970.
- chauvinism (n.)
- 1840, "exaggerated, blind nationalism; patriotism degenerated into a vice," from French chauvinisme (1839), from the character Nicholas Chauvin, soldier of Napoleon's Grand Armee, notoriously attached to the Empire long after it was history, in the Cogniards' popular 1831 vaudeville "La Cocarde Tricolore." Meaning extended to "sexism" via male chauvinism (1969). The name is a French form of Latin Calvinus and thus Calvinism and chauvinism are, etymologically, twins. The name was a common one in Napoleon's army, and if there was a real person at the base of the character in the play, he has not been certainly identified by etymologists, though memoirs of Waterloo (one published in Paris in 1822) mention "one of our principal piqueurs, named Chauvin, who had returned with Napoleon from Elba," which implies loyalty.
Example
- 1. The sources of this chauvinism are not entirely clear .
- 2. Yet the common patent was long blocked by linguistic chauvinism .
- 3. The leaders in beijing play a dangerous game with such chauvinism .
- 4. This doesn 't mean we should replace humanities-bashing with humanities chauvinism .
- 5. The hope of forging a common european identity has given way to greater national assertiveness , even chauvinism .