D. J. Kevles
Did you know?
Sometime back in the 16th century, we borrowed the word psyche directly from Greek into English. In Greek mythology, Psyche was a beautiful princess who fell in love with Eros (Cupid), god of love, and went through terrible trials before being allowed to marry him. The story is often understood to be about the soul redeeming itself through love. (To the Greeks, psyche also meant "butterfly", which suggests how they imagined the soul.) In English, psyche often sounds less spiritual than soul, less intellectual than mind, and more private than personality.
Examples of psyche in a Sentence
Footwear News, 23 May 2025
Her attacker lies dead on the bed, a raven screams accusations, and the rooms are filled with warped mementos from her psyche.
—Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 21 May 2025
Two bodies of water — the Persian Gulf in the south and the Caspian Sea to the north — are deeply intertwined in the Iranian psyche as symbols of nationhood.
—Farnaz Fassihi, New York Times, 11 May 2025
Told from the fragmented and colliding perspectives of Smith, her psychiatrist, and her former lover, the film explores themes of fame, codependency, and self-destruction in a fractured American psyche.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 6 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for psyche
Cite this Entry
“Psyche.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/psyche. Accessed 2 Jun. 2025.
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psyche
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psyche
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