psychology

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /saɪˈkɒl.ə.dʒi/, US /saɪˈkɑː.lə.dʒi/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin psychologia,^[2][3][4][5] which is believed to have been coined in Germany in the 16th century, possibly by Melanchthon,^[2][3] from Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, “breath, spirit, soul”) + -λογία (-logía, “study”) (see psyche and -logy).^[2][3] Its first appearance in print is in 1590–97, as the study of the soul.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The study of the human soul: 1653 in the OED and Barnhart,^[6][2] the 1650s in Etymonline;^[3] NODE and the SOED date the English word to the late 17th century.^[3][5][7]

Semantic evolution

The study of the human mind is first recorded in 1748,^[2] in reference to Christian Wolff's Psychologia empirica (1732),^[3] and MWU dates its first known use to 1749.^[4] The modern sense of a behavioural science is from the early 1890s,^[3] and the study of the behaviour of an individual or group from 1895.^[6] The attitude or outlook of a person or group on a matter, as in the psychology of the voter, is from 1899.^[6] The sense of tactics used to influence or manipulate someone, as in reverse psychology, is recorded in the AHD.^[8]

Timeline

• 1590–97 – New Latin psychologia in print.^[2]
• 1653 – the study of the soul.^[6][2]
• 1748 – the study of the mind.^[2][3]
• early 1890s – a behavioural science.^[3]
• 1899 – the outlook of a person or group.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The scientific study of the mind and of behaviour in humans and animals.
2. The mental and emotional characteristics of a person, group or activity.
3. Subtle tactics used to influence or manipulate someone.
4. (philosophy) The branch of metaphysics that studies the soul and the mind.

Word family

• prepsychology
• psychological
• psychologize
• biopsychology
• metapsychology
• neuropsychology
• parapsychology

Related words

• psyche
• psychiatrist
• psychiatry
• psychotherapy
• psychic
• psychologist

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin