ego

C1 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈiɡo/ UK /ˈiːɡəʊ/ See IPA manual

Freq #5506

Meanings

1

noun
A person's sense of their own importance or value.

Winning the award was a real boost to his ego.
2

noun
An exaggerated sense of one's own importance; excessive pride.

His huge ego makes him impossible to work with.
3

noun
In psychology, the part of the mind that connects a person to reality and balances their desires.

According to Freud, the ego mediates between our impulses and the outside world.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person's sense of their... self-esteem

2 noun · an exaggerated sense of... egotism

3 noun · in psychology, the part of... self

More i ich

Word family

Forms egos

Derived forms ego-dystonicego-expansionego-mindedego-mindednessego-selfego-surfingego-syntonicego-tripego-trippingegobooegoboostegocast

Appears in

Phrases (2)

See all

Proverbs (1)

See all

Your ego is not your amigo

Simplified etymology

The psychological term ego comes directly from the Latin word for “I.”

Etymology

From Latin ego (“I”). Chosen by Freud’s translator as a translation of his use of German Ich as a noun for this concept from the pronoun ich (“I”). Doublet of I and Ich.

ego Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# ego

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈiɡo/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈiːɡəʊ/
**Frequency rank:** 5506

## Meanings
1. A person's sense of their own importance or value.
2. An exaggerated sense of one's own importance; excessive pride.
3. In psychology, the part of the mind that connects a person to reality and balances their desires.

## Examples
- Winning the award was a real boost to his ego.
- His huge ego makes him impossible to work with.
- According to Freud, the ego mediates between our impulses and the outside world.

## Synonyms
- i
- ich

## Derived Forms
- ego-dystonic
- ego-expansion
- ego-minded
- ego-mindedness
- ego-self
- ego-surfing
- ego-syntonic
- ego-trip
- ego-tripping
- egoboo
- egoboost
- egocast

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: ego

## Etymology
From Latin ego (“I”). Chosen by Freud’s translator as a translation of his use of German Ich as a noun for this concept from the pronoun ich (“I”). Doublet of I and Ich.

## AI Etymology
Ego is from Latin ego (“I”). Chosen by Freud’s translator as a translation of his use of German Ich as a noun for this concept from the pronoun ich (“I”). Doublet of I and Ich. A key historical form is Latin ego. In present-day use, it can mean a person's sense of their own importance or value, or a exaggerated sense of one's own importance; excessive pride. Derived formations include ego-dystonic, ego-expansion, ego-minded, ego-mindedness, ego-self.

## Topics
- People & Society

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ego