psychosomatic

English

WOTD – 8 November 2009

Etymology

From psycho- +‎ somatic.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌsaɪkəʊsəˈmætɪk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌsaɪkoʊsəˈmædɪk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætɪk

Adjective

psychosomatic (comparative more psychosomatic, superlative most psychosomatic)

1. (now rare) Pertaining to both the mind and the body.
2. (medicine, psychology) Pertaining to physical diseases, symptoms etc. which have mental causes.
   • 2000 May 28, Peter Wolson, “A World of Psychophobia”, in Los Angeles Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 2025-05-10:

     Even the “unconscious” frequently prefers physical problems to psychological ones as suggested by the prevalence of psychosomatic ailments: physical symptoms--for example, stomach aches--caused by an emotional problem. It has been estimated that more than 50% of a physicians’ practice involves the treatment of psychosomatic complaints.

Translations

of physical effects with mental causes

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

  Mandarin: 心理作用引起的 (xīnlǐ zuòyòng yǐnqǐ de), 身心 (zh) (shēn-xīn)

• Czech: psychosomatický
• Danish: psykosomatisk
• Dutch: psychosomatisch (nl)
• Esperanto: psiĥosomata, psikosomata
• Estonian: psühhosomaatiline
• Finnish: psykosomaattinen (fi)
• French: psychosomatique (fr)
• German: psychosomatisch (de)
• Greek: ψυχοσωματικός (el) (psychosomatikós)
• Hungarian: pszichoszomatikus (hu)
• Icelandic: geðvefrænn
• Italian: psicosomatico
• Japanese: 心身 (ja) (しんしん, shinshin)
• Macedonian: психосоматски (psihosomatski)
• Norwegian: psykosomatisk
• Polish: psychosomatyczny (pl)
• Portuguese: psicossomático (pt)
• Russian: психосомати́ческий (ru) (psixosomatíčeskij)
• Serbo-Croatian: психосоматски
• Spanish: psicosomático (es)
• Swedish: psykosomatisk (sv)
• Turkish: psikosomatik (tr)
• Ukrainian: психосомати́чний (psyxosomatýčnyj)

See also

• somatoform

Anagrams

• somatopsychic