psychology

English

Etymology

From French psychologie, from Latin psychologia (coined by Marko Marulić from Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, “soul”) + -logia (“study of”)).

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: sī-kŏlʹə-jē, IPA^(key): /saɪˈkɑlədʒi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /saɪˈkɒlədʒɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒlədʒi
• Hyphenation: psy‧chol‧o‧gy

Noun

psychology (countable and uncountable, plural psychologies)

1. (uncountable) The study of the human mind.
2. (uncountable) The study of human behavior.
3. (uncountable) The study of animal behavior.
4. (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 warped psychology to a deformed body as accounting for Elizabeth's preferred spinsterhood...

   • 1969, Victor Alba, The Latin Americans, page 42:

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

Derived terms

• behavioral psychology
• depth psychology
• paedopsychology
• parapsychology
• psychologism
• psychologist

 

Related terms

• psyche
• psyched up
• psychiatrist
• psychiatry
• psychotherapy

 

Translations

study of the human mind

• Afrikaans: sielkunde
• Albanian: psikologjia
• Arabic: سَيْكُولُوجِيَّا‎ f (saykulūjiyyā), عِلْم اَلنَّفْس‎ m (ʿilm an-nafs)
• Armenian: հոգեբանություն (hy) (hogebanutʿyun)
• Asturian: sicoloxía f
• Azerbaijani: psixologiya
• Basque: psikologia
• Belarusian: псіхало́гія f (psixalóhija)
• Bengali: মনোবিজ্ঞান (mônobiggan)
• Breton: bredoniezh (br) f
• Bulgarian: психоло́гия (bg) f (psihológija)
• Catalan: psicologia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 心理學 (zh), 心理学 (zh) (xīnlǐxué)

• Chuvash: психологи (psihologi)
• Cornish: brysonieth f
• Czech: psychologie (cs) f
• Danish: psykologi c
• Dutch: psychologie (nl) f, zielkunde (nl) f
• Esperanto: psikologio (eo)
• Estonian: psühholoogia (et)
• Faroese: sálarfrøði f
• Finnish: psykologia (fi)
• French: psychologie (fr) f
• Galician: psicoloxía (gl) f
• Georgian: ფსიქოლოგია (psikologia)
• German: Psychologie (de) f, (dated) Seelenkunde f
• Greek: ψυχολογία (el) f (psychología)
• Gujarati: મનોવિજ્ઞાન (manovijñān)
• Hebrew: פְּסִיכוֹלוֹגְיָה‎ (he) f (psikhologya)
• Hindi: मनोविज्ञान (hi) (manovigyān)
• Hungarian: pszichológia (hu)
• Icelandic: sálfræði f
• Ido: psikologio
• Indonesian: psikologi (id)
• Irish: síceolaíocht (ga) f, aigneolaíocht f
• Italian: psicologia (it) f
• Japanese: 心理学 (ja) (しんりがく, shinrigaku), サイコロジー (saikorojī)
• Kazakh: психология (psïxologïya)
• Khmer: ចិត្តវិទ្យា (chetta vityie)
• Korean: 심리학 (ko) (simnihak)
• Kyrgyz: психология (ky) (psihologiya)
• Latin: psychologia

• Latvian: psiholoģija f
• Lithuanian: psichologija f
• Macedonian: психологија f (psihologija)
• Malay: ilmu jiwa, psikologi
• Malayalam: മനഃശാസ്ത്രം (manaḥśāstraṃ)
• Maltese: psikoloġija f
• Maori: mātauranga hinengaro, mātai hinengaro
• Marathi: मानसशास्त्र (mānasśāstra)
• Navajo: ániʼ dóó ntsékees naalkaah
• Nepali: मनोविज्ञान (manowijñāna)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: psykologi (no) m

  Nynorsk: psykologi m

• Persian: روان‌شناسی‎ (ravân-shenâsi), پسیکولوژی‎ (psikoloži) (dated)
• Polish: psychologia (pl) f
• Portuguese: psicologia (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਮਨੋਵਿਗਿਆਨ (manovigiān)
• Romanian: psihologie (ro) f
• Russian: психоло́гия (ru) f (psixológija)
• Santali: ᱢᱚᱱ ᱥᱟᱬᱮᱥ (môn saṇes)
• Scots: psychology
• Scottish Gaelic: eòlas-inntinn m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: психологија f

  Roman: psihologija (sh) f

• Slovak: psychológia f
• Slovene: psihologija (sl) f
• Spanish: psicología (es) f
• Swahili: saikolojia (sw)
• Swedish: psykologi (sv) c
• Tagalog: dalub-isipan, dalubisipan, sikolohiya
• Tamil: உளவியல் (ta) (uḷaviyal)
• Tatar: психология (psixoloğiya)
• Telugu: మానసిక శాస్త్రము (te) (mānasika śāstramu)
• Thai: จิตวิทยา (th) (jìt-dtà-wít-tá-yaa)
• Turkish: ruh bilimi (tr)
• Ukrainian: психоло́гія (uk) f (psyxolóhija)
• Vietnamese: tâm lý học (vi)
• Volapük: lanav (vo)
• Welsh: seicoleg (cy) f
• Yakut: психология (psixologiya)
• Yiddish: פּסיכאָלאָגיע‎ f (psikhologye)
• Zazaki: psikoloci (Southern Zazaki)

the study of the human behavior

• Arabic: سَيْكُولُوجِيَّا‎ f (saykulūjiyyā), عِلْم اَلنَّفْس‎ m (ʿilm an-nafs)
• Armenian: հոգեբանություն (hy) (hogebanutʿyun)
• Asturian: sicoloxía f
• Azerbaijani: psixologiya
• Catalan: psicologia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 心理學 (zh), 心理学 (zh) (xīnlǐxué)

• Cornish: brysonieth f
• 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: 心理学 (ja) (しんりがく, shinrigaku), サイコロジー (saikorojī)
• Korean: 심리학 (ko) (simnihak)
• Latvian: psiholoģija f
• Macedonian: психоло́гија f (psihológija)
• Malay: ilmu jiwa, psikologi
• Maori: mātai hinengaro
• Navajo: ániʼ dóó ntsékees naalkaah
• Norwegian: psykologi (no)
• Persian: روان‌شناسی‎ (ravân-shenâsi)
• Portuguese: psicologia (pt) f
• Russian: психоло́гия (ru) f (psixológija)
• Scots: psychology
• Scottish Gaelic: eòlas-inntinn m
• Spanish: psicología (es) f
• Turkish: ruh bilimi (tr)
• Welsh: seicoleg (cy) f

the study of animal behavior

• Armenian: հոգեբանություն (hy) (hogebanutʿyun)
• Azerbaijani: psixologiya
• Czech: psychologie (cs) f
• Dutch: psychologie (nl) f
• Finnish: psykologia (fi), eläinpsykologia
• French: psychologie (fr) f
• German: Psychologie (de) f
• Greek: ψυχολογία (el) f (psychología)

• Latvian: psiholoģija f
• Malay: ilmu jiwa, psikologi
• Norwegian: psykologi (no) m
• Portuguese: psicologia (pt) f
• Scots: psychology
• Scottish Gaelic: eòlas-inntinn m
• Spanish: psicología (es) f
• Turkish: ruh bilimi (tr)

the mental characteristics of a particular individual

• Armenian: հոգեբանություն (hy) (hogebanutʿyun)
• Azerbaijani: psixologiya
• Catalan: psicologia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 心理 (zh) (xīnlǐ)

• Cornish: brysonieth f
• 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: 心理 (ja) (しんり, shinri)
• Korean: 심리 (ko) (simni)
• Latvian: psiholoģija f
• Macedonian: психологија f (psihologija)
• Malay: ilmu jiwa, psikologi
• Norwegian: psykologi (no) m
• 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, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} psikologjia
• Basque: ^{(please verify)} psikologia
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} zielkunde (nl) f
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} psikologio (eo)
• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} פסיכולוגיה‎ (he) f (psikologia)
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} psychologia f

• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} psihologie (ro)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} psykologi (sv)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} మనస్తత్వ శాస్త్రము (manastatva śāstramu)
• Thai: ^{(please verify)} จิตวิทยา (th) (jìt wíttáyaa)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} psikoloji (tr)

Further reading

• psychology in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• psychology in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911