paranoid

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English paranoia

Ancient Greek -ο- (-o-)der.

Latin -o-

Proto-Indo-European *weyd-

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *wéydos

Proto-Hellenic *wéidos

Ancient Greek εἶδος (eîdos)

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *-ēs

Ancient Greek -ης (-ēs)

Ancient Greek -ειδής (-eidḗs)

Latin -oīdēslbor.

English -oid

English paranoid

From paranoia + -oid.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpæɹ.əˌnɔɪd/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpæɹ.əˌnɔɪd/, /ˈpɛɹ.əˌnɔɪd/
• Hyphenation: para‧noid
• Rhymes: -ɔɪd

Adjective

paranoid (comparative more paranoid, superlative most paranoid)

1. Of, related to, or suffering from clinical paranoia.
2. (informal) Exhibiting excessive fear, suspicion, or distrust.
   • 1984, Rockwell, “Somebody's Watching Me”:

     But can the people on TV see me or am I just paranoid?

   • 2003, Nelson DeMille, Plum Island:

     People generally want to believe good news, and Max was so paranoid about germs that he'd really love to believe Plum Island was spewing antibiotics and vaccine into the air.

   • 2026 February 3, Edward Wong, Julian E. Barnes, quoting Marcel Dirsus, “Ruptures in China’s Leadership Could Be Due to Paranoia and Power Plays”, in The New York Times (Politics section)‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 04 February 2026:

     “As an autocrat, you have to be paranoid. You’re constantly at risk,” he said. “Everyone around you is lying all the time. You never know who is authentically loyal and who is lying to you.”

Derived terms

• nonparanoid
• paranoidly
• paranoidness
• paranoid personality disorder
• paranoid schizophrenia
• paranoid schizophrenic
• technoparanoid
• ultraparanoid
• unparanoid

Translations

of, related to, or suffering from paranoia

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: بَارَانُويِيّ (bārānūyiyy)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: paranoic
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 偏執狂的 / 偏执狂的 (piānzhíkuáng de)

• Dutch: paranoïde (nl)
• Esperanto: paranoja
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: vainoharhainen (fi) (common language); paranoidinen (fi), paranoidi (medical terminology)
• French: paranoïaque (fr)
• Georgian: პარანოიდული (ṗaranoiduli)
• German: paranoid (de)
• Greek: παρανοϊκός (el) m (paranoïkós)
• Hungarian: paranoiás (hu)
• Icelandic: vænisjúkur
• Indonesian: paranoid (id)
• Italian: paranoico (it) m, paranoide (it) m or f
• Japanese: 偏執病の (へんしつびょうの, henshitsubyō no), 偏執病的な (へんしつびょうてきな, henshitsubyōteki na)
• Kazakh: параноидты (paranoidty), параноидалды (paranoidaldy)
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: paranoid
• Navajo: ádił náhodilchííłgo ʼachʼį́nijódlį́
• Persian: پارانوئید (pârâno'id), پارانوئیدی (pârâno'idi)
• Polish: paranoiczny (pl), paranoidalny (pl)
• Portuguese: paranoico (pt)
• Russian: параноида́льный (ru) (paranoidálʹnyj), парано́идный (ru) (paranóidnyj), паранойя́льный (ru) (paranojjálʹnyj)
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: paranoico, paranoide
• Swedish: paranoia (sv) c
• Turkish: paranoyak (tr)
• Ukrainian: параноїдальний (paranojidalʹnyj)

exhibiting extreme and irrational fear or distrust of others

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: paranoic
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不信任的 (bú xìn rèn de)

• Czech: paranoidní
• Dutch: paranoïde (nl), para (nl) (slang)
• Finnish: vainoharhainen (fi)
• German: paranoid (de)
• Greek: παρανοϊκός (el) m (paranoïkós)
• Italian: paranoico (it) m, paranoide (it) m or f
• Polish: paranoiczny (pl)
• Portuguese: paranoico (pt)
• Russian: паранои́ческий (ru) (paranoíčeskij)
• Spanish: paranoico
• Thai: หวาดระแวง (th)

Noun

paranoid (plural paranoids)

1. A person suffering from paranoia.

Translations

someone suffering from paranoia

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: paranoik
• Catalan: paranoic
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 妄想狂者 (wàngxiǎngkuángzhě)

• Czech: paranoik m
• Esperanto: paranojulo
• Finnish: vainoharhainen (fi)
• French: paranoïaque (fr) m or f, parano (fr) m or f
• German: Paranoiker (de) m, Paranoikerin (de) f, Paranoide (de) m or f
• Greek: παρανοϊκός (el) m (paranoïkós)
• Irish: paranóiach m
• Italian: paranoico (it) m, paranoide (it) m or f
• Polish: paranoik (pl) m, paranoiczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: paranoico (pt) m
• Russian: парано́ик (ru) m (paranóik)
• Spanish: paranoico
• Swedish: paranoiker (sv) c
• Ukrainian: параноїк m (paranóik)

Anagrams

• paraonid

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [paʁanoˈʔiːt]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pa‧ra‧no‧id

Adjective

paranoid (strong nominative masculine singular paranoider, comparative paranoider, superlative am paranoidesten)

1. paranoid

Declension

Positive forms of paranoid

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist paranoid	sie ist paranoid	es ist paranoid	sie sind paranoid
strong declension (without article)	nominative	paranoider	paranoide	paranoides	paranoide
	genitive	paranoiden	paranoider	paranoiden	paranoider
	dative	paranoidem	paranoider	paranoidem	paranoiden
	accusative	paranoiden	paranoide	paranoides	paranoide
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der paranoide	die paranoide	das paranoide	die paranoiden
	genitive	des paranoiden	der paranoiden	des paranoiden	der paranoiden
	dative	dem paranoiden	der paranoiden	dem paranoiden	den paranoiden
	accusative	den paranoiden	die paranoide	das paranoide	die paranoiden
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein paranoider	eine paranoide	ein paranoides	(keine) paranoiden
	genitive	eines paranoiden	einer paranoiden	eines paranoiden	(keiner) paranoiden
	dative	einem paranoiden	einer paranoiden	einem paranoiden	(keinen) paranoiden
	accusative	einen paranoiden	eine paranoide	ein paranoides	(keine) paranoiden

Comparative forms of paranoid

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist paranoider	sie ist paranoider	es ist paranoider	sie sind paranoider
strong declension (without article)	nominative	paranoiderer	paranoidere	paranoideres	paranoidere
	genitive	paranoideren	paranoiderer	paranoideren	paranoiderer
	dative	paranoiderem	paranoiderer	paranoiderem	paranoideren
	accusative	paranoideren	paranoidere	paranoideres	paranoidere
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der paranoidere	die paranoidere	das paranoidere	die paranoideren
	genitive	des paranoideren	der paranoideren	des paranoideren	der paranoideren
	dative	dem paranoideren	der paranoideren	dem paranoideren	den paranoideren
	accusative	den paranoideren	die paranoidere	das paranoidere	die paranoideren
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein paranoiderer	eine paranoidere	ein paranoideres	(keine) paranoideren
	genitive	eines paranoideren	einer paranoideren	eines paranoideren	(keiner) paranoideren
	dative	einem paranoideren	einer paranoideren	einem paranoideren	(keinen) paranoideren
	accusative	einen paranoideren	eine paranoidere	ein paranoideres	(keine) paranoideren

Superlative forms of paranoid

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist am paranoidesten	sie ist am paranoidesten	es ist am paranoidesten	sie sind am paranoidesten
strong declension (without article)	nominative	paranoidester	paranoideste	paranoidestes	paranoideste
	genitive	paranoidesten	paranoidester	paranoidesten	paranoidester
	dative	paranoidestem	paranoidester	paranoidestem	paranoidesten
	accusative	paranoidesten	paranoideste	paranoidestes	paranoideste
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der paranoideste	die paranoideste	das paranoideste	die paranoidesten
	genitive	des paranoidesten	der paranoidesten	des paranoidesten	der paranoidesten
	dative	dem paranoidesten	der paranoidesten	dem paranoidesten	den paranoidesten
	accusative	den paranoidesten	die paranoideste	das paranoideste	die paranoidesten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein paranoidester	eine paranoideste	ein paranoidestes	(keine) paranoidesten
	genitive	eines paranoidesten	einer paranoidesten	eines paranoidesten	(keiner) paranoidesten
	dative	einem paranoidesten	einer paranoidesten	einem paranoidesten	(keinen) paranoidesten
	accusative	einen paranoidesten	eine paranoideste	ein paranoidestes	(keine) paranoidesten

Further reading

• “paranoid” in Duden online
• “paranoid”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)

Indonesian

Etymology

Internationalism, borrowed from English paranoid.

Adjective

paranoid (comparative lebih paranoid, superlative paling paranoid)

1. paranoid

Related terms

• paranoia

Further reading

• “paranoid”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from German paranoid or French paranoïde.

Noun

paranoid m (plural paranoizi)

1. paranoid

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	paranoid	paranoidul	paranoizi	paranoizii
genitive-dative	paranoid	paranoidului	paranoizi	paranoizilor
vocative	paranoidule		paranoizilor

References

• paranoid in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

Swedish

Adjective

paranoid (comparative paranoidare, superlative paranoidast)

1. paranoid

Usage notes

The singular indefinite neuter is avoided according to the references, but "paranoit" is what would intuitively be expected (and is attested).

Declension

Inflection of paranoid

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	paranoid	paranoidare	paranoidast
neuter singular	paranoit	paranoidare	paranoidast
plural	paranoida	paranoidare	paranoidast
masculine plural2	paranoide	paranoidare	paranoidast
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	paranoide	paranoidare	paranoidaste
all	paranoida	paranoidare	paranoidaste

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Related terms

• paranoia

See also

• noja

References

• “paranoid”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “paranoid”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)