extravert

extravert

English

Etymology

As a verb, from New Latin extrāvertō, from Classical Latin extrā- (“outside”) + vertō (“to turn”). As a noun and adjective, a back-formation from extraversion. Popularized in psychology by translations of German works by Carl Jung.

Noun

extravert (plural extraverts)

1. Alternative spelling of extrovert
   • 1916, Constance Ellen Long trans. Carl Jung as Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology, p. 349:

     An Extravert can hardly conceive the necessity which compels the Introvert to conquer the world by means of a system.

Usage notes

Technical papers in psychology prefer extravert, the variant used by Carl Jung, although the spelling extrovert is more common in general use.

Adjective

extravert (comparative more extravert, superlative most extravert)

1. Alternative spelling of extrovert
   • 1924, A.G. Ikin, The British Journal of Medical Psychology, No. 4, p. 214:

     The personality which thus combines introvert and extravert reactions... can be... called an ‘altrovert’...

Verb

extravert (third-person singular simple present extraverts, present participle extraverting, simple past and past participle extraverted)

1. Alternative spelling of extrovert, especially (early chemistry, obsolete) so as to be visible.
   • 1669, William Simpson, Hydrologia Chymica, p. 52:

     It is not the moist air that extraverts any preexistent nitrous parts from the body of the minerals.

   • 1915, Carl Jung, "On Psychological Understanding", Journal of Abnormal Psychology, No. 9, p. 397:

     An extraverted individual can hardly understand the necessity that forces the introverted to accomplish his adaptation by first formulating a general conception.

References

• “extra'version, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1894.
• “† extra'vert, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1894.