brainwashing

See also: brain-washing

English

Alternative forms

brain-washing

Etymology

Calque of Chinese 洗腦 / 洗脑 (xǐnǎo, literally “wash brain”). First use appears c. 1950.

Pronunciation

Audio (US): (file)

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

brainwashing

Wikipedia

brainwashing (countable and uncountable, plural brainwashings)

A form of indoctrination that forces people to abandon their beliefs in favour of another set of beliefs by conditioning through various forms of pressure or torture.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]
Synonyms: coercive persuasion, mind control, menticide, programming, reeducation, thought control, thought reform
- 1994, David Lawrence Pedersen, Cameral Analysis: A Method of Treating the Psychoneurosis Using Hypnosis, page 96:
  So it came about, through Pavlov's work, that the Soviets developed and perfected the 'brain-washing' technique seen to be so effective in the state trials of the 1930s. An amazed world witnessed the sight of intelligent and renowned figures genuinely confessing to criminal acts against the state, or voicing ideological dogma in a total reversal of their previously held values.
- 2000, Boyé De Mente, The Chinese Have a Word for It: The Complete Guide to Chinese Thought and Culture, McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, page 421:
  All new prisoners were assigned to "study groups" or "introductory teams" that were responsible for applying a variety of brain-washing techniques designed to break down all old beliefs and attitudes and replace them with Communist-Socialist thoughts.

Translations

form of indoctrination

Arabic: غَسِيل دِمَاغ m (ḡasīl dimāḡ), غَسِيل مُخّ m (ḡasīl muḵḵ)
Gulf Arabic: غسيل مخ m (ḡasīl muḵ)
Armenian: ուղեղների լվացում (hy) (uġeġneri lvacʻum)
Belarusian: прамыва́нне мазго́ў n (pramyvánnje mazhów)
Bulgarian: проми́ване на мо́зъци n (promívane na mózǎci)
Catalan: rentat de cervell m
Chinese:
Cantonese: 洗腦 / 洗脑 (sai² nou⁵)

Hokkien: 洗腦 / 洗脑 (sé-náu, sóe-náu)

Mandarin: 洗腦 / 洗脑 (zh) (xǐnǎo)
Czech: vymývání mozků n
Danish: hjernevask c
Dutch: hersenspoeling (nl) f
Esperanto: cerbolavado
Estonian: ajupesu
Faroese: heilatváttur m
Finnish: aivopesu (fi)
French: lavage de cerveau (fr) m
Georgian: ტვინის გამორეცხვა (ṭvinis gamorecxva)
German: Gehirnwäsche (de) f, Hirnwäsche f, Mentizid (de) m or n
Greek: πλύση εγκεφάλου (el) f (plýsi egkefálou)
Hebrew: שטיפת מוח \ שְׁטִיפַת מוֹחַ (he) m (shtifát móakh)
Hungarian: agymosás (hu)
Icelandic: heilaþvottur (is) m
Indonesian: cuci otak (id)
Italian: lavaggio del cervello (it) m
Japanese: 洗脳 (ja) (せんのう, sennō)
Korean: 세뇌(洗腦) (senoe)
Latvian: smadzeņu skalošana f
Lithuanian: smegenų plovimas m
Macedonian: миење мозок n (mienje mozok), перење на мозокот n (perenje na mozokot)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: hjernevask m, hjernevasking m or f

Nynorsk: hjernevask m or n, hjernevasking f
Persian: شستشوی مغزی (šostošu-ye maġzi)
Polish: pranie mózgu n
Portuguese: lavagem cerebral (pt) f
Romanian: spălare a creierului f
Russian: промыва́ние мозго́в (ru) n (promyvánije mozgóv)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: испирање мозга n

Roman: ispiranje mozga n
Slovak: vymývanie mozgov n
Slovene: pranje možganov n
Spanish: lavado de cerebro (es) m, comedura de coco f (Spain, colloquial)
Swedish: hjärntvätt (sv) c
Tajik: шустушӯи мағзи (šustušü-yi maġz-i)
Thai: การล้างสมอง (th) (gaan-láang-sà-mɔ̌ɔng)
Ukrainian: промива́ння мі́зків n (promyvánnja mízkiv)
Urdu: دماغ شوئی (dimāġ-śū'ī)
Vietnamese: tẩy não (vi)

Verb