Etymology

psychophysics

P3S1Y4C3H4O1P3H4Y4S1I1C3S1

Today it means: The branch of psychology concerned with the effects of physical stimuli on mental processes. Full definition →

English physics ← Middle English phisik ← Latin physicus
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Ancient Greekψῡχή (psūkhḗ)
  2. Ancient Greekψῡχο- (psūkho-)
  3. Englishpsycho-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*bʰuH-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*bʰuHyéti
  6. Ancient Greekφῠ́ω (phŭ́ō)
  7. Ancient Greekφύσις (phúsis)
  8. Ancient Greekφυσικός (phusikós)
  9. Latinphysicus
  10. Middle Englishphisik
  11. Englishphysic
  12. Englishphysics
  13. English todaypsychophysics

From psycho- + physics.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.