ego

See also: Ego, égo, égő, ego-, and -ego

English

Etymology

From Latin ego (“I”). Chosen by Freud’s translator as a translation of his use of German Ich as a noun for this concept from the pronoun ich (“I”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈiːɡəʊ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈiɡoʊ/
• Rhymes: -iːɡəʊ

Noun

ego (countable and uncountable, plural egos)

2. The self, especially with a sense of self-importance.
   • 1998, Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth

     When every thought absorbs your attention completely, when you are so identified with the voice in your head and the emotions that accompany it that you lose yourself in every thought and every emotion, then you are totally identified with form and therefore in the grip of ego. Ego is a conglomeration of recurring thought forms and conditioned mental-emotional patterns that are invested with a sense of I, a sense of self.

3. (psychology, Freudian) The most central part of the mind, which mediates with one's surroundings.
   • 1954, Calvin S. Hall, “A Primer of Freudian Psychology”

     In the well adjusted person the ego is the executive of the personality and is governed by the reality principle.

Derived terms

terms derived from ego

• alter ego
• egodystonic
• egoism
• egoist
• egoistic

• egoistical
• egoistically
• egosyntonic
• egotism
• egotist

• egotistic
• egotistical
• egotistically
• ego trip

• empirical ego
• pure ego
• superego
• transcendental ego

Translations

the self

• Arabic: اَلْأَنَا‎ m (al-ʾanā)
• Catalan: jo (ca) m, ego (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 自我 (zh) (zì wǒ)

• Danish: ego (da) n
• Finnish: minä (fi); ego (fi)
• French: moi (fr) m
• Galician: ego (gl) m, eu (gl)
• German: Ich (de) n, Ego (de) n
• Greek: εγώ (el) n (egó)
• Hebrew: אגו‎ (he) m (ego)
• Hindi: अहं (hi) (ahã)
• Ido: ego (io)
• Japanese: 自我 (ja) (じが, jiga), エゴ (ego)
• Korean: 자아 (ko) (jaa)

• Latin: idem (la) n
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ego (no) n

  Nynorsk: ego n

• Persian: خود‎ (fa) (xod), نفس‎ (fa) (nafs)
• Portuguese: ego (pt) m, eu (pt) m
• Russian: э́го (ru) n (égo), я (ru) n (ja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: е̑го m, ја̑

  Roman: ȇgo (sh) m, jȃ (sh)

• Spanish: ego (es) m, yo (es) m
• Swedish: ego (sv) n
• Telugu: అహం (te) (ahaṃ)
• Turkish: ego (tr)

psychoanalytic ego

• Catalan: jo (ca) m, ego (ca) m
• Czech: ego (cs) n, já (cs) n
• Danish: jeg (da) n, ego (da) n
• Esperanto mio (eo)
• Finnish: minä (fi)

• French: moi (fr) m
• Galician: ego (gl)
• Hindi: अहं (hi) (aham), अहम्‌ (aham‌)
• Persian: آن‌من‎ (fa) (ân-man)
• Portuguese: ego (pt) m, eu (pt) m

See also

• id
• superego

Anagrams

• EOG, GEO, GOE, Geo., Goe, geo, geo-, goe

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin ego. Doublet of jo.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈe.ɡo/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /ˈe.ɡu/

Noun

ego m (plural egos)

1. ego (the self)

   Synonym: jo

Related terms

• egoisme
• egoista

Further reading

• “ego” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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Czech

Etymology

From Latin ego (“I”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛɡɔ/

Noun

ego n

1. ego
2. (psychoanalysis) ego

Declension

Declension

	singular	plural
nominative	ego	ega
genitive	ega	eg
dative	egu	egům
accusative	ego	ega
vocative	ego	ega
locative	egu	egách
instrumental	egem	egy

Synonyms

• já

See also

• superego
• id

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

ego n (plural ego's, diminutive egootje n)

1. ego, self

Related terms

• egoïsme, egoïst, egoïstisch

Anagrams

• oge

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Finnish

Etymology

From Latin egō (“I”).

Noun

ego

1. ego
2. (psychoanalysis) ego

Declension

Inflection of ego (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation)
nominative		ego	egot
genitive		egon	egojen
partitive		egoa	egoja
illative		egoon	egoihin
		singular	plural
nominative		ego	egot
accusative	nom.	ego	egot
	gen.	egon
genitive		egon	egojen
partitive		egoa	egoja
inessive		egossa	egoissa
elative		egosta	egoista
illative		egoon	egoihin
adessive		egolla	egoilla
ablative		egolta	egoilta
allative		egolle	egoille
essive		egona	egoina
translative		egoksi	egoiksi
instructive		—	egoin
abessive		egotta	egoitta
comitative		—	egoineen

Anagrams

• geo-

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Italian

Noun

ego m (invariable)

1. ego

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Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *egō, from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈe.ɡoː/, [ˈɛ.ɡoː]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈe.ɡo/, [ˈeː.ɡo]

(with iambic shortening)

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈe.ɡo/, [ˈɛ.ɡɔ]

Pronoun

ego or egō (first person, nominative, plural nōs)

1. I; first person singular personal pronoun, nominative case
   • 4th century, St Jerome, Vulgate, Tobit 3:19

     et aut ego indigna fui illis aut illi mihi forsitan digni non fuerunt quia forsitan viro alio conservasti me (And either I was unworthy of them, or they perhaps were not worthy of me: because perhaps thou hast kept me for another man,)

Inflection

Personal pronoun declension.

Singular	First-person	Second-person	Reflexive
nominative	ego/egō	tū	—
genitive	meī	tuī	suī
dative	mihi/mihī, mī	tibi	sibi
accusative	mē	tē	sē, sēsē
ablative	mē	tē	sē, sēsē
vocative	egō	tū	—
possessive	meus	tuus	suus
Plural	First-person	Second-person	Reflexive
nominative	nōs	vōs	—
genitive	nostrī, nostrum	vestrī, vestrum	suī
dative	nōbīs	vōbīs	sibi
accusative	nōs	vōs	sē, sēsē
ablative	nōbīs	vōbīs	sē, sēsē
vocative	nōs	vōs	—
possessive	noster	vester, voster	suus

Derived terms

• mecum
• egomet, meimet, mihimet, memet
• proximus egomet mihi

Descendants

• Vulgar Latin: *eo (see there for further descendants)
• → Catalan: ego
• → Dutch: ego
• → English: ego
• → French: ego
• → Galician: ego
• → German: Ego
• → Italian: ego
• → Portuguese: ego
• → Spanish: ego

See also

Latin personal pronouns

Number	Person	Gender	Nominative	Genitive	Dative	Accusative	Ablative	Possessive
Singular	First	—	ego	meī	mihi	mē		meus, -a, -um
	Second	—	tū	tuī	tibi	tē		tuus, -a, -um
	Reflexive third	—	—	suī	sibi	sē, sēsē		suus, -a, -um
	Third	Masculine	is	eius	eī	eum	eō	eius
		Feminine	ea			eam	eā
		Neuter	id			id	eō
Plural	First	—	nōs	nostrī, nostrum	nōbīs	nōs	nōbīs	noster, -tra, -trum
	Second	—	vōs	vestrī, vestrum	vōbīs	vōs	vōbīs	vester, -tra, -trum
	Reflexive third	—	—	suī	sibi	sē, sēsē		suus, -a, -um
	Third	Masculine	eī, iī	eōrum	eīs	eōs	eīs	eōrum
		Feminine	eae	eārum		eās		eārum
		Neuter	ea	eōrum		ea		eōrum

References

• ego in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ego in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ego in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• ego in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to be hardly able to restrain one's tears: vix me contineo quin lacrimem
    
  • I cannot sleep for anxiety: curae somnum mihi adimunt, dormire me non sinunt
    
  • I'm undone! it's all up with me: perii! actum est de me! (Ter. Ad. 3. 2. 26)
    
  • I was induced by several considerations to..: multae causae me impulerunt ad aliquid or ut...
    
  • I console myself with..: hoc (illo) solacio me consōlor
    
  • I console myself with..: haec (illa) res me consolatur
    
  • (great) advantage accrues to me from this: fructus ex hac re redundant in or ad me
    
  • I will refuse you nothing: nihil tibi a me postulanti recusabo
    
  • I express my approval of a thing: res a me probatur
    
  • as far as I can guess: quantum ego coniectura assequor, auguror
    
  • if I am not mistaken: nisi (animus) me fallit
    
  • unless I'm greatly mistaken: nisi omnia me fallunt
    
  • I am not unaware: me non fugit, praeterit
    
  • I cannot bring myself to..: a me impetrare non possum, ut
    
  • I forget something: oblivio alicuius rei me capit
    
  • experience has taught me: usus me docuit
    
  • this goes to prove what I say: hoc est a (pro) me
    
  • the matter speaks for itself: res ipsa (pro me apud te) loquitur
    
  • something harasses me, makes me anxious: aliquid me sollicitat, me sollicitum habet, mihi sollicitudini est, mihi sollicitudinem affert
    
  • I am discontented with my lot: fortunae meae me paenitet
    
  • I am not dissatisfied with my progress: non me paenitet, quantum profecerim
    
  • what will become of me: quid (de) me fiet? (Ter. Heaut. 4. 3. 37)
    
  • it's all over with me; I'm a lost man: actum est de me
    
  • I have great hopes that..: magna me spes tenet (with Acc. c. Inf.) (Tusc. 1. 41. 97)
    
  • hope has played me false: spes me frustratur
    
  • I have received a legacy from a person: hereditas ad me or mihi venit ab aliquo (Verr. 2. 1. 10)
    
  • I have no objection: per me licet
    
  • (ambiguous) to be burned to ashes: incendio deleri, absūmi
    
  • (ambiguous) to be carried off by a disease: morbo absūmi (Sall. Iug. 5. 6)
    
  • (ambiguous) to die a natural death: morbo perire, absūmi, consūmi
    
  • (ambiguous) according to my strong conviction: ex animi mei sententia (vid. sect. XI. 2)
    
  • (ambiguous) I put myself at your disposal as regards advice: consilii mei copiam facio tibi
    
  • (ambiguous) my dear father: pater optime or carissime, mi pater (vid. sect. XII. 10)
    
  • (ambiguous) I swear on my conscience: ex animi mei sententia iuro
    

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Latvian

Noun

ego m (invariable)

1. ego

Noun

ego m (invariable)

1. eglantine

Synonyms

1. smaržlapu roze

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Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin ego (“I”).

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈɛ.ɣu/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɛ.ɡu/
• (South Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈɛ.ɡo/

Noun

ego m (plural egos)

1. ego (the self)
2. (psychology) ego (most central part of the mind)

Derived terms

• massagear o ego

Related terms

• egocêntrico
• egocentrismo
• egoísmo
• egoísta
• egoístico
• ególatra
• egolatria
• egomania
• egomaníaco
• egômano
• egotismo
• egotista
• eu

 

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Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Latin ego.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /êːɡo/
• Hyphenation: e‧go

Noun

ȇgo m (Cyrillic spelling е̑го)

1. ego

Declension

Declension of ego

	singular	plural
nominative	ȇgo	ega
genitive	ȇga	ega
dative	egu	egima
accusative	ego	ega
vocative	ego	ega
locative	egu	egima
instrumental	egom	egima

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Spanish

Etymology

From Latin ego (“I”). Doublet of yo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈeɡo/, [ˈeɣo]

Noun

ego m (plural egos)

1. ego

   Synonym: yo

Related terms

• egocéntrico
• egoísmo
• egoísta

 

Further reading

• “ego” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.