psychic

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ψυχικός (psukhikós, “relative to the soul, spirit, mind”). Earlier referred to as "psychical"; or from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, “soul, mind, psyche”). First appeared (as substantive) 1871 and first records 1895.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsaɪkɪk/
• Rhymes: -aɪkɪk

Noun

psychic (plural psychics)

1. A person who possesses, or appears to possess, extra-sensory abilities such as precognition, clairvoyance and telepathy, or who appears to be susceptible to paranormal or supernatural influence.
2. A person who supposedly contacts the dead; a medium.
3. (Gnosticism) In gnostic theologian Valentinus' triadic grouping of man the second type; a person focused on intellectual reality (the other two being hylic and pneumatic).

Translations

a person who possesses, or appears to possess, extra-sensory abilities

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 灵媒 (zh) (língméi)

• Finnish: psyykikko (fi)
• Hungarian: parafenomén
• Indonesian: cenayang (id)
• Japanese: 霊媒 (れいばい, reibai) lit. "spiritualist medium"
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: sensitivo (pt)
• Russian: экстрасе́нс (ru) m (ekstrasɛ́ns), телепа́т (ru) m (telepát)

a person who contacts the dead

• Czech: médium (cs) m
• Finnish: meedio (fi)
• French: médium (fr) m
• Hungarian: médium (hu)
• Italian: medium (it) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 霊媒 (れいばい, reibai) lit. "spiritualist medium"
• Norwegian: medium (no) n
• Polish: medium (pl) n
• Portuguese: sensitivo (pt), médium (pt)
• Russian: ме́диум (ru) m (médium)

person focused on intellectual reality

• Norwegian: psykiker m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Adjective

psychic (comparative more psychic, superlative most psychic)

1. Relating to or having the abilities of a psychic.

   You must be psychic—I was just about to say that.

   She is a psychic person—she hears messages from beyond.

2. Relating to the psyche or mind, or to mental activity in general.
   • 1913, Abraham Brill, translator, The Interpretation of Dreams, translation of original by Sigmund Freud:

     In the following pages I shall demonstrate that there is a psychological technique which makes it possible to interpret dreams, and that on the application of this technique every dream will reveal itself as a psychological structure, full of significance, and one which may be assigned to a specific place in the psychic activities of the waking state.

   • 1967, R. D. Laing, The Politics of Experience and the Bird of Paradise:

     A pathological process called 'psychiatrosis' may well be found, by the same methods, to be a delineable entity, with somatic correlates, and psychic mechanisms […]

Translations

relating to the abilities of a psychic

• Belarusian: псыхі́чны (psyxíčny), душэ́ўны (dušéŭny)
• Finnish: psyykkinen (fi)
• Hungarian: paranormális, természetfeletti (hu), telepatikus, látnoki, okkult (hu), para-, mágikus (hu), parafenomenális, paraképességgel rendelkező, médiumadottságokkal bíró
• Interlingue:
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 霊媒 (れいばい, reibai)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: whaiwhaiā
• Polish: psychiczny (pl), metapsychiczny, (slang) mediumiczny, (slang) mediumistyczny
• Portuguese: parapsíquico, psíquico (pt)
• Russian: психи́ческий (ru) (psixíčeskij), душе́вный (ru) (dušévnyj)
• Ukrainian: психі́чний (psyxíčnyj), душе́вний (dušévnyj)

Derived terms

• psychic cost
• psychic expenditure
• psychic income

Related terms

• psychical
• psychological