Standard Lemma guide

Buddhism

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈbʊ.dɪ.zəm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈbu.dɪ.zəm/
  • Northern-Ireland, Scotland: /ˈbʉ.dɪ.zəm/
  • CMU ARPABET: B UW1 D IH0 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The religion or philosophy derived from the teachings of Gautama Buddha.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the teaching of Buddha that life is permeated with suffering caused by desire, that suffering ceases when desire ceases, and that enlightenment obtained through right conduct and wisdom and meditation releases one from desire and suffering and rebirth

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: religion, faith, religious belief

Narrower terms: Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism, Theravada, Theravada Buddhism, Lamaism, Tibetan Buddhism, Zen, Zen Buddhism, Shingon, Tantra, Tantrism

3

noun

Meaning 3

a religion represented by the many groups (especially in Asia) that profess various forms of the Buddhist doctrine and that venerate Buddha

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: religion, faith, organized religion

Narrower terms: Zen, Zen Buddhism, Mahayana, Hinayana, Tantrism

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English Buddha Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English Buddhism From Buddha + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

135 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: budizëm — religion and philosophy
  • Amharic: ቡዲስም (budism) — religion and philosophy
  • Arabic: بُوذِيَّة (būḏiyya) — religion and philosophy
  • Arabic: سَمَنِيَّة (samaniyya) — religion and philosophy
  • Arabic: شُمَنِيَّة (šumaniyya) — religion and philosophy
  • Armenian: բուդդիզմ (buddizm) — religion and philosophy
  • Armenian: բուդդայականություն (buddayakanutʻyun) — religion and philosophy
  • Assamese: বৌদ্ধ ধৰ্ম (bouddho dhormo) — religion and philosophy
  • Asturian: budismu — religion and philosophy
  • Azerbaijani: buddizm — religion and philosophy
  • Bashkir: буддизм (buddizm) — religion and philosophy
  • Basque: Budismo — religion and philosophy
  • Belarusian: буды́зм (budýzm) — religion and philosophy
  • Bengali: বৌদ্ধ ধর্ম (bōuddho dhormo) — religion and philosophy
  • Breton: boudaegezh — religion and philosophy
  • Bulgarian: буди́зъм (budízǎm) — religion and philosophy
  • Burmese: ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ (buddha.bhasa) — religion and philosophy
  • Buryat: буддын шажан (buddyn šažan) — religion and philosophy
  • Catalan: budisme — religion and philosophy
  • Chinese Cantonese: 佛教 (fat6 gaau3) — religion and philosophy
  • Chinese: фәҗё (fəjio) — religion and philosophy
  • Eastern Min Chinese: 佛教 (hŭk-gáu) — religion and philosophy
  • Hakka Chinese: 佛教 (fu̍t-kau) — religion and philosophy
  • Chinese: 佛教 (zh-min-nan) — religion and philosophy
  • Chinese Mandarin: 佛教 (fójiào) — religion and philosophy
  • Wu Chinese: 佛教 (8veq-ciau) — religion and philosophy
  • Czech: buddhismus — religion and philosophy
  • Danish: buddhisme — religion and philosophy
  • Dutch: boeddhisme — religion and philosophy
  • Dzongkha: ནང་པ (nang pa) — religion and philosophy
  • Esperanto: budhismo — religion and philosophy
  • Estonian: budism — religion and philosophy
  • Finnish: buddhalaisuus — religion and philosophy
  • French: bouddhisme — religion and philosophy
  • Galician: budismo — religion and philosophy
  • Georgian: ბუდიზმი (budizmi) — religion and philosophy
  • German: Buddhismus — religion and philosophy
  • Greek: βουδισμός (voudismós) — religion and philosophy
  • Gujarati: બૌદ્ધ ધર્મ (bauddh dharma) — religion and philosophy
  • Hebrew: בּוּדְהִיזְם (budhizm) — religion and philosophy
  • Hindi: बौद्ध धर्म (bauddh dharm) — religion and philosophy
  • Hungarian: buddhizmus — religion and philosophy
  • Icelandic: búddismi — religion and philosophy
  • Indonesian: agama Buddha — religion and philosophy
  • Irish: Búdachas — religion and philosophy
  • Italian: buddismo — religion and philosophy
  • Japanese: 仏教 (bukkyō) — religion and philosophy
  • Kannada: ಬೌದ್ಧ ಧರ್ಮ (bauddha dharma) — religion and philosophy
  • Kashmiri: بُدھ مَت (budh mat) — religion and philosophy
  • Kazakh: буддизм (buddizm) — religion and philosophy
  • Kazakh: Бұдда діні (Būdda dını) — religion and philosophy
  • Khmer: ពុទ្ធសាសនា (putthĕəʼ saasaʼniə) — religion and philosophy
  • Khmer: ពុទ្ធនិយម (put niyum) — religion and philosophy
  • Korean: 불교 (bulgyo) — religion and philosophy
  • Northern Kurdish: budîzm — religion and philosophy
  • Kyrgyz: бурканчылык (burkancılık) — religion and philosophy
  • Kyrgyz: буддизм (buddizm) — religion and philosophy
  • Lao: ສາດສະຫນາພຸດ (sāt sa nāphut) — religion and philosophy
  • Latin: Buddhismus — religion and philosophy
  • Latvian: budisms — religion and philosophy
  • Lithuanian: budizmas — religion and philosophy
  • : ᦝᦴᧉᦶᦈᧁᧈ (fuu2ṫsaew1) — religion and philosophy
  • : ᦉᦱᦉᦓᦱᦷᦅᦎᦙ (ṡaaṡnaakoṫm) — religion and philosophy
  • : ᦉᦱᦉᦓᦱᦘᦈᧁᧉ (ṡaaṡnaaphṫsaw2) — religion and philosophy
  • Macedonian: буди́зам (budízam) — religion and philosophy
  • Malay: agama Buddha — religion and philosophy
  • Malayalam: ബുദ്ധമതം (buddhamataṁ) — religion and philosophy
  • Maltese: Buddiżmu — religion and philosophy
  • Marathi: बौद्ध धर्म (bauddha dharma) — religion and philosophy
  • Mon: ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ — religion and philosophy
  • Mongolian: буддизм (buddizm) — religion and philosophy
  • Mongolian: буддын шашин (buddyn šašin) — religion and philosophy
  • Mongolian: бурхан шашин (burxan šašin) — religion and philosophy
  • Mongolian: бурхны шашин (burxny šašin) — religion and philosophy
  • Mongolian: ᠪᠤᠳ᠋ᠳ᠋ᠾᠢᠽᠮ (buddhizm) — religion and philosophy
  • Mongolian: ᠪᠤᠳ᠋ᠳ᠋ᠾᠠ ᠶᠢᠨ ᠱᠠᠰᠢᠨ (buddha-yin šasin) — religion and philosophy
  • Mongolian: ᠪᠤᠷᠬᠠᠨ ᠱᠠᠰᠢᠨ (burqan šasin) — religion and philosophy
  • Mongolian: ᠪᠤᠷᠬᠠᠨ ᠤ ᠱᠠᠰᠢᠨ (burqan-u šasin) — religion and philosophy
  • Norwegian Bokmål: buddhisme — religion and philosophy
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: buddhisme — religion and philosophy
  • Odia: ବୌଦ୍ଧ ଧର୍ମ (bauddha dharma) — religion and philosophy
  • Pashto: بودايي دین (budāyī dīn) — religion and philosophy
  • Pashto: بوديزم (budizm) — religion and philosophy
  • Persian: مذهب بودا (mazhab-e budâ) — religion and philosophy
  • Persian: آیین بودا (âyin-e budâ) — religion and philosophy
  • Persian: آیین بودایی (âyin-e budâyi) — religion and philosophy
  • Persian: بودیسم (budism) — religion and philosophy
  • Pohnpeian: Pwuda — religion and philosophy
  • Polish: buddyzm — religion and philosophy
  • Portuguese: budismo — religion and philosophy
  • Punjabi: ਬੁੱਧ ਧਰਮ (buddha dharam) — religion and philosophy
  • Punjabi: بدھ مت (bdh mt) — religion and philosophy
  • Romanian: budism — religion and philosophy
  • Russian: будди́зм (buddízm) — religion and philosophy
  • Sanskrit: बौद्धधर्म (bauddhadharma) — religion and philosophy
  • Santali: ᱵᱩᱫᱫᱷᱚ ᱫᱷᱚᱨᱚᱢ (buddhô dhôrôm) — religion and philosophy
  • Serbo-Croatian: будѝзам — religion and philosophy
  • Serbo-Croatian: budìzam — religion and philosophy
  • Shan: ပုၵ်ႉထႃႉၽႃႇသႃႇ (pṵ̂k thâ̰a phàa sàa) — religion and philosophy
  • Sindhi: ٻڌمت (ḇdhmt) — religion and philosophy
  • Sindhi: ٻڌ ڌرم (ḇdh dhrm) — religion and philosophy
  • Sinhalese: බුද්ධාගම (buddhāgama) — religion and philosophy
  • Slovak: budhizmus — religion and philosophy
  • Slovene: budizem — religion and philosophy
  • Spanish: budismo — religion and philosophy
  • Swahili: Ubudha — religion and philosophy
  • Swedish: buddhism — religion and philosophy
  • Swedish: buddism — religion and philosophy
  • Tagalog: budismo — religion and philosophy
  • Tajik: буддизм (buddizm) — religion and philosophy
  • Tajik: буддоия (buddoyiya) — religion and philosophy
  • Tamil: பௌத்தம் (pauttam) — religion and philosophy
  • Tamil: புத்தம் (puttam) — religion and philosophy
  • Tatar: буддачылык (buddaçılıq) — religion and philosophy
  • Tatar: буддизм (buddizm) — religion and philosophy
  • Telugu: బౌద్ధము (bauddhamu) — religion and philosophy
  • Thai: ศาสนาพุทธ (sàat-sà-nǎa pút) — religion and philosophy
  • Tibetan: ནང་བསྟན (nang bstan) — religion and philosophy
  • Turkish: Budizm — religion and philosophy
  • Turkmen: buddaçylyk — religion and philosophy
  • Turkmen: buddizm — religion and philosophy
  • Tuvan: сарыг шажын (sarıg şajın) — religion and philosophy
  • Ukrainian: будди́зм (buddýzm) — religion and philosophy
  • Urdu: بدھ مت (buddh mat) — religion and philosophy
  • Uyghur: بۇددا دىنى (budda dini) — religion and philosophy
  • Uzbek: buddizm — religion and philosophy
  • Uzbek: budda dini — religion and philosophy
  • Vietnamese: Phật giáo — religion and philosophy
  • Vietnamese: đạo Phật — religion and philosophy
  • Vietnamese: đạo Giáo ngộ — religion and philosophy
  • Volapük: bud — religion and philosophy
  • Welsh: Bwdhaeth — religion and philosophy
  • Welsh: Bwdïaeth — religion and philosophy
  • Yiddish: בודהיזם (budhizm) — religion and philosophy
  • Zhuang: Fuzgyau — religion and philosophy
Real reading context

Buddhism in complete knowledge articles