psychen.

Etymology: < ancient Greek ψυχή breath, life (identified with or indicated by the breath), the animating principle in man and other living beings, the source of all vital activities, rational or irrational, the soul or spirit (as distinct from its material vehicle, the body, σῶμα ), sometimes considered as capable of persisting in a disembodied state after separation from the body at death, (also) a butterfly or moth < ψύχειν to breathe, to blow, perhaps a derivative (with -χειν , suffix forming verbs) of an unattested verb (cognate with Vedic Sanskrit apsu without breath, without strength) < an extended form of an ablaut variant (zero-grade) of the Indo-European base of Sanskrit bhastrā leather bag, bellows. Compare classical Latin Psȳchē , Psyche, the name of an allegorical personification of the soul, especially as occurring in the central episode of Apuleius Metamorphoses (2nd cent. a.d.). In sense 1c probably after German Psyche (although this is first attested later: C. G. Jung 1920). In sense 2b < scientific Latin Psyche, genus name ( F. von P. Schrank Fauna boica (1801) II. 156). In sense 3, after French psyché (1812; probably so called after the mythological character, although the exact semantic motivation is unclear), and in sense 4 directly after the name of the mythological character Psyche. In classical literature, Psyche was personified as a beautiful mortal with whom Cupid fell in love: Venus was jealous of Psyche's beauty and set her a series of superhuman tasks, after the last of which Psyche and Cupid were allowed to marry and Psyche was brought to heaven; she is represented in works of art as having butterfly wings, or as a butterfly (see sense 2). The name was extended by Plato and other philosophers to the anima mundi (see anima mundi n.), conceived as animating the general system of the universe, as the soul animates the individual organism. Developing a distinction between ancient Greek πνεῦμα breath or spirit (see pneuma n.; corresponding to Hebrew rūaḥ ) and ancient Greek ψυχή soul (corresponding to Hebrew nepeš ), terms often used interchangeably in Greek-speaking Judaism, St Paul used ψυχή for the lower or merely natural life of man, shared with other animals, in contrast with the πνεῦμα or spirit, used as an anthropological term in relation to the divine πνεῦμα conceived as a new eschatological gift: compare psychic adj. 2, psychical adj. 2. N.E.D. (1909) also gives the pronunciation (psəi·ki) /ˈpsaɪkiː/ for this entry and the partial pronunciation (ps-) /ps-/ for many related words.