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   barbarism

   /ˈbɑːbərɪz(ə)m/

   noun

   • 1. absence of culture and civilization: "the collapse of civilization and the return to barbarism"
   • ▪ a word or expression which is badly formed according to traditional philological rules, e.g. a word formed from elements of different languages, such as breathalyser (English and Greek) or television (Greek and Latin).
   • 2. extreme cruelty or brutality: "she called the execution an act of barbarism"

   Word Origin late Middle English: from Old French barbarisme, via Latin from Greek barbarismos, from barbarizein ‘speak like a foreigner’, from barbaros ‘foreign’.

   Scrabble Points: 15

   • B

     3

   • A

     1

   • R

     1

   • B

     3

   • A

     1

   • R

     1

   • I

     1

   • S

     1

   • M

     3

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