psychology

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

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

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

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.

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