Meanings
plural megalopsychoi · alternative megalopsuchos · alternative megalopsukhos · alternative megalopsychus · alternative megalopsykhos
- Aristotle’s “great-souled man”: an aristocratic paragon who embodies the virtues to an exceptional degree (a figure described chiefly in Aristotle’s Eudemian and Nicomachean Ethics).
1 more example
Nietzsche could not, for instance, accuse Aristotle of preaching a morality of pity, nor of extolling humility. On the contrary Aristotle’s description of the megalopsychos who possesses the virtue of greatness of soul and “deserves and claims great things” (Nicomachean Ethics 1123 a 15) has much in common with Nietzsche’s picture of the “higher” type of man.
1973, Philippa Foot, “Nietzsche: The Revaluation of Values”, in Robert C. Solomon, Garden City, New York, editors, Nietzsche: A Collection of Critical Essays, Anchor Books, →ISBN, page 164
Origin
- Ancient Greekμεγᾰλόψῡχος“great-souled man”, “magnanimous one”
- Englishmegalopsychos
From the Ancient Greek μεγᾰλόψῡχος (megălópsūkhos, “great-souled man”, “magnanimous one”), from μεγᾰς (megăs, “great”) + ψῡχή (psūkhḗ, “mind”, “spirit”, “soul”).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Polish megalopsychos
- megalopsychosAristotle’s aristocratic paragon of virtue
Cite this entry
megalopsychos. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/megalopsychos
“megalopsychos.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/megalopsychos. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “megalopsychos,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/megalopsychos.
Source: megalopsychos on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.