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psychic

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English

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Etymology

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From Ancient Greek ψυχικός (psukhikós, “relative to the soul, spirit, mind”). Earlier referred to as "psychical"; or from Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, “soul, mind, psyche”). First appeared (as substantive) 1871 and first records 1895.[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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psychic (plural psychics)

  1. A person who possesses, or appears to possess, extrasensory abilities such as clairvoyance, precognition and telepathy, as well as potentially interact externally using their minds or souls through telekinesis or teleportation, or who appears to be susceptible to paranormal or supernatural influences.
    Synonym: (rare) psych
  2. (parapsychology) A person who supposedly contacts the dead; a medium.
  3. (Gnosticism) In gnostic theologian Valentinus' triadic grouping of man, the second-highest type; a person focused on intellectual reality (the other two being hylic and pneumatic).

Translations

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Adjective

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psychic (comparative more psychic, superlative most psychic)

  1. Relating to or having the abilities of a psychic.
    You must be psychic—I was just about to say that.
    She is a psychic person—she hears messages from beyond.
    • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
      Having exhausted the sporting adventures of this terrestrial globe, he is now turning to those of the dim, dark and dubious regions of psychic research.
  2. Relating to the psyche or mind, or to mental activity in general.
    • 1913, Abraham Brill, transl., The Interpretation of Dreams, translation of original by Sigmund Freud:
      In the following pages I shall demonstrate that there is a psychological technique which makes it possible to interpret dreams, and that on the application of this technique every dream will reveal itself as a psychological structure, full of significance, and one which may be assigned to a specific place in the psychic activities of the waking state.
    • 1967, R. D. Laing, The Politics of Experience and the Bird of Paradise:
      A pathological process called 'psychiatrosis' may well be found, by the same methods, to be a delineable entity, with somatic correlates, and psychic mechanisms […]
    • 1979 August 25, Barbara Smith, “Black Feminists”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 6, page 4:
      Merely by comprehending this, the lack of support that black feminists have for being black feminists, white women might be able to give at least psychic and preferably practical support to black women who they know and not assume that it means the same thing for us to be feminists and lesbians as it does for them to be feminists and lesbians.
    • 2025 December 8, Wynand Goosen, “Remote Cosmologies of Control: An Investigative Analysis of the Archon–Prison-Planet Narrative in Gnostic, Esoteric, Psychological, and Cultural Contexts”, in International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science‎[1], volume 9, number 12, →DOI, archived from the original on 2 September 2026, page 3046:
      Castaneda’s eagle that consumes awareness and Keel’s “ultraterrestrials” resemble Archontic rulers in their deceptive and exploitative roles. Scholars note that these frameworks reinterpret spiritual practice and psychic warfare through a Gnostic lens, viewing reincarnation and spiritual life as systems of containment, forgetfulness, or manipulation.

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “psychic”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
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