psychology

English

Etymology

FromFrenchpsychologie,fromRenaissance Latinpsychologia,fromAncient Greekψυχή(psukhḗ,“soul”)+-λογία(-logía,“study of”),equivalent topsycho-+‎-logy.The Latin term is believed by some to have been coined in a lost treatise by Croatian humanistMarko Marulić(1450–1524), but this is disputed by other scholars. It is first attested in the 1570s, at which time it was apparently already current, and may be a Hellenization of the established expressiondēanimā(“on the soul”)in titles.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation)enPR:sī-kŏlʹə-jē,IPA^(key):/saɪˈkɒl.ə.d͡ʒɪ/
• (General American)IPA^(key):/saɪˈkɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/

  • Audio(California):

    (file)

• (General Australian)IPA^(key):/sɑɪˈkɔl.ə.d͡ʒɪ/
• Rhymes:-ɒlədʒi
• Hyphenation:psy‧chol‧o‧gy

Noun

psychology(countableanduncountable,pluralpsychologies)

2. (uncountable)Thestudyof thehumanmind.
   • 2023,Friedrich Nietzsche,Twilight of the Idols: Bilingual English & German Edition,Newcomb Livraria Press,→ISBN,page 9:

     Idleness is the beginning of allpsychology.

3. (uncountable)The study of human oranimalbehavior.
4. (uncountable,chieflyhistorical)The study of thesoul.
   • 2010,Harold Tarrant, “Platonism before Plotinus”, inLloyd P. Gerson,editor,The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity,volume 1,→ISBN:

     AlcinousinDidascaliuschapter 23 uses the three physical locations of the human soul fromTimaeus69c–72c[…]to lead into a dedicated discussion ofpsychology.

5. (countable)The mental, emotional, and behavioral characteristics pertaining to a specified person, group, or activity.
   • 1970,Mary M. Luke,A Crown for Elizabeth,page 8:

     For generations, historians have conjectured everything from a warpedpsychologyto a deformed body as accounting for Elizabeth's preferred spinsterhood...

   • 1969,Victor Alba,The Latin Americans,page42:

     In the United States, thepsychologyof a laborer, a farmer, a businessman does not differ in any important respect.

Holonyms

• social science

Derived terms

• abnormal psychology
• act psychology
• antipsychology
• armchair psychology
• behavioral psychology
• behavioural psychology
• biological psychology
• biopsychology
• chronopsychology
• clinical psychology
• cod psychology
• cognitive psychology
• content psychology
• criminal psychology
• crowd psychology
• cyberpsychology
• depth psychology
• depth-psychology
• developmental psychology
• differential psychology
• ecopsychology
• educational psychology
• ethnopsychology
• evolutionary psychology
• geropsychology
• Gestalt psychology
• gestalt psychology
• individual psychology
• industrial-organizational psychology
• metapsychology
• morphopsychology
• neuropsychology
• orthopsychology
• paedopsychology
• paidopsychology
• palaeopsychology
• parapsychology
• pedopsychology
• personality psychology
• political psychology
• positive psychology
• psychologism
• psychologist
• psychologylike
• reverse psychology
• robopsychology
• social psychology
• sociopsychology
• telepsychology
• xenopsychology
• zoopsychology
• zoöpsychology

Related terms

• psyche
• psyched up
• psychiatrist
• psychiatry
• psychotherapy

Translations

study of the human mind

• Afrikaans:sielkunde,psigologie
• Albanian:psikologji(sq)f
• Antillean Creole:psikolojif,sikolojif
• Arabic:سَيْكُولُوجْيَاf(saykolōjyā),عِلْم النَّفْس(ar)m(ʕilm an-nafs)
• Armenian:հոգեբանություն(hy)(hogebanutʻyun)
• Asturian:sicoloxíaf
• Azerbaijani:

  Abjad:روحيات(ruhiyat)

  Roman:psixologiya

• Basque:psikologia
• Belarusian:псіхало́гіяf(psixalóhija),псіхалёгіяf(psixaljóhija),псы́хікаf(psýxika)
• Bengali:মনোবিজ্ঞান(bn)(monōbiggên)
• Breton:bredoniezh(br)f
• Bulgarian:психоло́гия(bg)f(psihológija)
• Burmese:စိတ္တဗေဒ(my)(citta.beda.),စိတ်ပညာ(my)(citpa.nya)
• Catalan:psicologia(ca)f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Tâm lý học／Tâm lý học(zh)(xīnlǐxué)

• Chuvash:психологи(psih̬ologi)
• Cornish:brysoniethf
• Czech:psychologie(cs)f
• Danish:psykologic
• Dutch:psychologie(nl)f,zielkunde(nl)f
• Esperanto:psikologio(eo)
• Estonian:psühholoogia(et)
• Faroese:sálarfrøðif
• Finnish:psykologia(fi)
• French:psychologie(fr)f
• Galician:psicoloxía(gl)f
• Georgian:ფსიქოლოგია(psikologia)
• German:Psychologie(de)f,(dated)Seelenkunde(de)f
• Greek:ψυχολογία(el)f(psychología)
• Gujarati:મનોવિજ્ઞાન(manovijñān)
• Hebrew:פְּסִיכוֹלוֹגְיָה(he)f(psikhológya)
• Hindi:मनोविज्ञान(hi)(manovijñān)
• Hungarian:pszichológia(hu),lélektan(hu)
• Icelandic:sálfræðif
• Ido:psikologio(io)
• Indonesian:psikologi(id)
• Irish:síceolaíocht(ga)f,aigneolaíochtf
• Italian:psicologia(it)f
• Japanese:Tâm lý học(ja)(しんりがく, shinrigaku),サイコロジー(saikorojī)
• Kannada:ಮನಶ್ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ(manaśśāstra)
• Kazakh:психология(psixologiä),жантану(jantanu)
• Khmer:ចិត្តវិជ្ជា(cət vɨcciə),ចិត្តសាស្ត្រ(cət saah)
• Korean:심리학( tâm lý học )(ko)(simnihak)
• Kyrgyz:психология(ky)(psihologiya)
• Lao:ຈິດຕະວິທະຍາ(chit ta wi tha nyā)
• Latin:psychologia
• Latvian:psiholoģijaf
• Lithuanian:psichologijaf
• Macedonian:психологијаf(psihologija)
• Malay:ilmu jiwa,psikologi(ms)
• Malayalam:മനഃശാസ്ത്രം(ml)(manaḥśāstraṁ)
• Maltese:psikoloġijaf
• Maori:mātauranga hinengaro,mātai hinengaro
• Marathi:मानसशास्त्र(mānasśāstra)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic:сэтгэл судлал(setgel sudlal)

• Navajo:ániʼ dóó ntsékees naalkaah
• Nepali:मनोविज्ञान(manovigyān)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:psykologi(no)m

  Nynorsk:psykologim

• Occitan:psicologia(oc)f
• Persian:روانشناسی(ravân-šenâsi),پسیکولوژی(psikoloži)(dated)
• Plautdietsch:Seelenliaf
• Polish:psychologia(pl)f
• Portuguese:psicologia(pt)f
• Punjabi:ਮਨੋਵਿਗਿਆਨ(manovigiāna)
• Romanian:psihologie(ro)f
• Russian:психоло́гия(ru)f(psixológija),пси́хика(ru)f(psíxika)
• Santali:ᱢᱚᱱ ᱥᱟᱬᱮᱥ(môn saṇes)
• Scots:psychology
• Scottish Gaelic:eòlas-inntinnm
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:психоло̀гијаf

  Roman:psihològija(sh)f

• Sicilian:psiculuggìaf
• Slovak:psychológiaf
• Slovene:psihologija(sl)f
• Spanish:psicología(es)f
• Swahili:saikolojia(sw),elimunafsia
• Swedish:psykologi(sv)c
• Tagalog:sikolohiya
• Tajik:психология(psixologiya),равоншиносӣ(tg)(ravonšinosi)
• Tamil:உளவியல்(ta)(uḷaviyal)
• Tatar:психология(psixoloğiyä)
• Telugu:మానసిక శాస్త్రము(te)(mānasika śāstramu)
• Thai:จิตวิทยา(th)(jìt-dtà-wít-tá-yaa)
• Turkish:ruh bilimi(tr)
• Turkmen:psihologiýa
• Ukrainian:психоло́гія(uk)f(psyxolóhija),пси́хікаf(psýxika)
• Uyghur:پسىخولوگىيە(psixologiye)
• Uzbek:psixologiya(uz)
• Vietnamese:tâm lý học(vi)
• Volapük:lanav(vo)
• Welsh:seicoleg(cy)f
• Yakut:психология(psiqologiya)
• Yiddish:פּסיכאָלאָגיעf(psikhologye)
• Zazaki:psikoloci(Southern Zazaki)

the study of human or animal behavior

• Afrikaans:sielkunde,psigologie
• Arabic:سَيْكُولُوجْيَاf(saykolōjyā),عِلْم النَّفْس(ar)m(ʕilm an-nafs)
• Armenian:հոգեբանություն(hy)(hogebanutʻyun)
• Asturian:sicoloxíaf
• Azerbaijani:psixologiya

  South Azerbaijani:علم روح(elmi-ruh)

• Catalan:psicologia(ca)f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Tâm lý học／Tâm lý học(zh)(xīnlǐxué)

• Cornish:brysoniethf
• Czech:psychologie(cs)f
• Dutch:psychologie(nl)f
• Finnish:psykologia(fi),käyttäytymistiede
• French:psychologie(fr)f
• Galician:psicoloxía(gl)f
• Georgian:ფსიქოლოგია(psikologia)
• German:Psychologie(de)f
• Greek:ψυχολογία(el)f(psychología)
• Hungarian:pszichológia(hu)
• Japanese:Tâm lý học(ja)(しんりがく, shinrigaku),サイコロジー(saikorojī)
• Korean:심리학( tâm lý học )(ko)(simnihak)
• Latvian:psiholoģijaf
• Macedonian:психоло́гијаf(psihológija)
• Malay:ilmu jiwa,psikologi(ms)
• Maori:mātai hinengaro
• Navajo:ániʼ dóó ntsékees naalkaah
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:psykologi(no)m

  Nynorsk:psykologim

• Persian:روانشناسی(ravân-šenâsi)
• Portuguese:psicologia(pt)f
• Russian:психоло́гия(ru)f(psixológija)
• Scots:psychology
• Scottish Gaelic:eòlas-inntinnm
• Spanish:psicología(es)f
• Tagalog:sikolohiya
• Turkish:ruh bilimi(tr)
• Welsh:seicoleg(cy)f

the mental characteristics of a particular individual

• Afrikaans:sielkunde,psigologie
• Armenian:հոգեբանություն(hy)(hogebanutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani:psixologiya,ruhiyyət
• Catalan:psicologia(ca)f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Tâm lý(zh)(xīnlǐ)

• Cornish:brysoniethf
• Czech:psychologie(cs)f
• Dutch:psychologie(nl)f
• Finnish:mielenlaatu(fi),psyyke(fi)
• French:psychologie(fr)f
• Galician:psicoloxía(gl)f
• German:Psychologie(de)f
• Greek:ψυχολογία(el)(psychología)
• Japanese:Tâm lý(ja)(しんり, shinri)
• Korean:심리( tâm lý )(ko)(simni)
• Latvian:psiholoģijaf
• Macedonian:психологијаf(psihologija)
• Malay:ilmu jiwa,psikologi(ms)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:psykologi(no)m

  Nynorsk:psykologim

• Portuguese:psicologia(pt)f
• Russian:психоло́гия(ru)f(psixológija)
• Scots:psychology
• Spanish:psicología(es)f
• Turkish:psikoloji(tr)
• Welsh:seicoleg(cy)f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian:^{(pleaseverify)}psikologjia
• Basque:^{(pleaseverify)}psikologia
• Dutch:^{(pleaseverify)}zielkunde(nl)f
• Esperanto:^{(pleaseverify)}psikologio(eo)
• Latin:^{(pleaseverify)}psychologiaf
• Romanian:^{(pleaseverify)}psihologie(ro)
• Swedish:^{(pleaseverify)}psykologi(sv)
• Telugu:^{(pleaseverify)}మనస్తత్వ శాస్త్రము(manastatva śāstramu)
• Thai:^{(pleaseverify)}จิตวิทยา(th)(jìt-dtà-wít-tá-yaa)
• Turkish:^{(pleaseverify)}psikoloji(tr)

Further reading

• “psychology”,inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary,Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
• “psychology”,inThe Century Dictionary[…],New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,1911,→OCLC.