chauvinism

Borrowed from French chauvinisme (“idealistic devotion to Napoleon”), named for Nicolas Chauvin, a legendary and excessively patriotic soldier of the French First Republic. The figure of Chauvin became especially famous as a character in the play La Cocarde Tricolore by the Cogniard brothers. The surname is from Latin Calvīnus, a Roman cognomen (whence also the surname Calvin and thereby English Calvinism), from the adjective calvus (“bald”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kl̥H- (“bald”)).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃəʊ.vɪ.nɪ.zəm/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈʃoʊ.vɪˌnɪzm̩/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈʃəʊ.və.nɪ.zəm/

chauvinism (countable and uncountable, plural chauvinisms)

1. (derogatory) Excessive patriotism, eagerness for national superiority; jingoism.
2. (derogatory) Unwarranted bias, favoritism, or devotion to one's own particular group, cause, or idea.
   • 1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books (2014), page 312:

     “This is an outrageous example of unconscious racial chauvinism!” Jack said.

   Feminists say that male chauvinism is still prevalent in cultures worldwide.

• jingoism

• chauvinist

• bigotry
• Chauvinism in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

From French chauvinisme.

chauvinism c

1. chauvinism

• chauvinist
• chauvinistisk