Etymology

paranoia

pa·ra·noia
P3A1R1A1N1O1I1A1

Today it means: A psychotic disorder, now called delusional disorder, often (in one of six subtypes) characterized by delusions of persecution and a perceived threat against the individual affected with the disorder, and often associated with false accusations and a general mistrust of others. Full definition →

Ancient Greek παράνοια
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · learned borrowing fromπαράνοια“madness”
  2. English todayparanoia

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek παράνοια (paránoia, “madness”), from παράνοος (paránoos, “demented”), from παρά (pará, “beyond, beside”) + νόος (nóos, “mind, spirit”). By surface analysis, para- (“abnormal, beyond”) + nous (“mind”) + -ia (“(medical) condition”).

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekπαράνοια all →

beside oneself

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.