sapphism means lesbianism; female homosexuality. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 86 out of 100.
sapphism is pronounced /ˈsæ.fɪzm̩/.
Why “sapphism” is a great word
SAPPHISM — [Noun] Female homosexuality; lesbianism. From the name of the ancient Greek poet Sappho of Lesbos (c. 630–570 BCE) + the suffix -ism, denoting a practice or condition; first attested in English in the 1890s. Unlike “tribadism,” which narrowly specifies a sexual act, or the more clinical “lesbianism” (its direct modern counterpart), sapphism is a term of literature and history. It evokes the salt-scoured air of an Aegean island, the fragmented whisper of verses on papyrus, and the private, sun-drenched intimacy of a school for young women—a name given by history to a love that history so often tried to erase.
noun
- Lesbianism; female homosexuality.“Its odd that yᵉ Roman Women did not borrow that horrible Vice from Greece—it has a Greek name now & is called Sapphism, but I never did hear of it in Italy where the Ladies are today exactly what Juvenal described them in his Time—neither better nor worse as I can find.”