psyche - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Learned borrowing from Latin psychē, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, “soul”).

psyche (plural psyches)

  1. The human soul, mind, or spirit.
    • 2022 January 28, Em Beihold, Nick Lopez, Dru DeCaro, “Numb Little Bug”, in Egg in the Backseat‎[1], performed by Em Beihold:
      I've been driving in L.A. / And the world, it feels too big / Like a floating ball that's bound to break / Snap my psyche like a twig
    • 2023 November 20, Rory Carroll, Lisa O'Carroll, “‘It’s part of our psyche’: why Ireland sides with ‘underdog’ Palestine”, in The Guardian‎[2], →ISSN:
      We feel we have been victimised over the centuries. It’s part of our psyche – underneath it all we side with the underdog.”
  2. (chiefly psychology) The human mind as the central force in thought, emotion, and behavior of an individual.
  3. A small white butterfly, Leptosia nina, family Pieridae, of Asia and Australasia.

the human soul, mind, or spirit

Shortened form of psychology, from French psychologie, from Latin psychologia, from Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, “soul”) and -λογία (-logía, “study of”)

psyche (uncountable)

  1. Abbreviation of psychology.

psyche

  1. (colloquial) Alternative form of psych.

psyche (third-person singular simple present psyches, present participle psyching, simple past and past participle psyched)

  1. Alternative form of psych.

From Latin psychē, from Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ).

psyche f (plural psyches, no diminutive)

  1. psyche, soul, spirit

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ψῡχή (psūkhḗ, “soul, breath”).

psȳchē f (genitive psȳchēs); first declension

  1. mind
  2. spirit

First-declension noun (feminine, Greek-type, nominative singular in -ē).

Descendants

Learned borrowing from Latin psychē.

psyche f (indeclinable)

  1. (literary, psychoanalysis) psyche (human soul, mind, or spirit)
    Synonym: psychika

Borrowed from French psyché.

psyche f (indeclinable)

  1. cheval glass (long mirror, mounted on a swivel in a frame, allowing it to be tilted)