FromLatinego(“I”). Chosen by Freud’s translator as a translation of his use of GermanIch as a noun for this concept from the pronounich(“I”).Doublet ofI andIch.
When every thought absorbs your attention completely, when you are so identified with the voice in your head and the emotions that accompany it that you lose yourself in every thought and every emotion, then you are totally identified with form and therefore in the grip ofego.Ego is a conglomeration of recurring thought forms and conditioned mental-emotional patterns that are invested with a sense of I, a sense of self.
(psychology,Freudian) The most central part of themind, which mediates with one's surroundings.
1954, Calvin S. Hall,A Primer of Freudian Psychology:
In the well adjusted person theego is the executive of the personality and is governed by the reality principle.
‘Everything begins with “I”, you mean. Which isego,’ said Tom, placing an ankle behind his ear, ‘notid.’
A person's self-esteem and opinion of themselves.
1976 February 7, Philip Gambone, “Coming Out: The Gay Identity Process”, inGay Community News, volume 3, number32, page 4:
Too many gay people "come out" publicly, yet fail to achieve truly healthyegos. They "adjust" to being less than whole or integrated persons.
2024 January 10, Christian Wolmar, “A time for change? ... just as it was back in issue 262”, inRAIL, number1000, page60:
My columns in the early days of the Labour government often featured John Prescott, who was in charge of transport as part of a mega-department created to match hisego.
“ego”, inKielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish][2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki:Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland),2004–, retrieved2 July 2023
“ego”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879),A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“ego”, inCharlton T. Lewis (1891),An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
"ego", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’sGlossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
