Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. The root word Semite gives the false impression that antisemitism is directed against all Semitic people, e.g., including Arabs, Assyrians, and Arameans. The compound word Antisemitismus ('antisemitism') was first used in print in Germany in 1879 as a scientific-sounding term for Judenhass ('Jew-hatred'), and this has been its common use since then.