howlism

The suffix -ism denotes a distinctive system of beliefs, myth, doctrine or theory that guides a social movement, institution, class or group. _ For example, baptize (literally derived from "to dip") becomes "baptism," a distinctive system of cleansing in water for the forgiveness of sins. It is taken from the Greek suffix -ismos, Latin -ismus, and Old French -isme, that forms nouns from verbal stems. _ Greek baptismos "immersion", for example, is derived from baptizein, a Greek verb meaning "to immerse". _ Its usage has since been extended to signify the ideology or philosophy surrounding the element to which the suffix is added.