Psychologically

How to spell psychologically

15 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce psychologically

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does psychologically mean?

1. adverbIn a way that relates to the mind, emotions, or mental processes rather than the body or external facts.

Psychologically in a sentence

• The long lockdown left many staff feeling psychologically drained.

• Athletes prepare psychologically as much as they train their bodies.

Where does psychologically come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to two Greek roots: psyche, which originally meant 'breath' and came to mean 'soul, spirit, or mind', and logos, meaning 'word, account, or study'. Scholars combined these into the New Latin term psychologia in the sixteenth century to name the study of the mind, and English adopted 'psychology' by the early seventeenth century. The adjective 'psychological' followed, and the adverb 'psychologically' was formed by stacking the suffixes -ical and -ly onto the base. The silent 'p' at the start survives from the original Greek spelling, where the cluster 'ps' was pronounced in full; English kept the letter for the look of the word even after the sound vanished. That silent 'p', plus the soft 'ch' standing in for the Greek letter chi and the unstressed vowels in the middle, are exactly what make this long word a spelling trap.

How the word is built

• psycho- (from Greek psyche: soul, mind)
• -log- (from logos: word, study)
• -ical (adjective suffix)
• -ly (adverb suffix)