superego

superego

See also: Superego, süperego, and super-ego

English

Alternative forms

• super-ego

Etymology

super +‎ ego, from earlier form super-ego, calqued after German Über-Ich, from über- (“super-”) + Ich (“ego”), from the pronoun ich (“I”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /supɛɹiɡoʊ/

  Rhymes: -iːɡəʊ

Noun

superego (plural superegos)

1. (psychoanalysis) The part of the mind that acts as a self-critical conscience, reflecting social standards that have been learnt.
   • 1974, Thomas S. Szasz, M.D., chapter 9, in The Myth of Mental Illness‎, →ISBN, page 152:

     Still, it would be an error to believe that psychoanalytic
     theory makes no contribution to describing and assessing
     different types of ethical conduct. The crucial notion in this
     connection is the relative rigidity or flexibility of the superego.
     The childish, immature, or neurotic superego is rigid; it is
     characterized by slavish adherence to rules which, moreover,
     may not be clearly understood. The mature or normal super-
     ego, on the other hand, is flexible; it can evaluate the situation
     at hand and modify the rules accordingly. Thus, in an early,
     classic paper, Strachey suggested that the basic aim of psycho-
     analytic treatment is to make such "mutative interpretations"
     as would help to render the patient's "rigid superego" more
     "flexible".⁸ Like the psychoanalytic theory of the superego, on
     which it is based, this view suffers from the limitation of being
     silent on what sort of rigidity is considered bad or undesirable
     and what sort of flexibility is considered good or desirable. In
     short, Freud and other psychoanalysts have persistently
     dallied with normative systems without ever committing them-
     selves on normative standards.

Translations

part of the mind

Arabic: الْأَنَا الْعُلْيَا‎ f (al-ʾanā l-ʿulyā), الْأَنَا الْأَعْلَى‎ m (al-ʾanā l-ʾaʿlā) Catalan: superjò m, superego m Chinese: 超我 (zh) (chāowǒ) Czech: superego n, nadjá n, nad-já n Danish: overjeg n, superego n Esperanto: superegoo (eo), supermio (eo) Finnish: yliminä (fi) French: surmoi (fr) m Galician: superego m German: Über-Ich (de) n, Superego n Greek: υπερεγώ (el) n (yperegó) Hebrew: אני עליון‎ Hindi: पराहम्‌ m (parāham‌) Irish: os-mhise m Japanese: 超自我 (chōjiga) Persian: فراخود‎ (farâxod) Polish: superego (pl) n Portuguese: superego (pt) m, supereu m Russian: сверх-я́ (ru) n (sverx-já), супер-э́го (ru) n (super-égo) Spanish: superyó m, superego m Turkish: süperego

See also

• ego
• id

Anagrams

• Pegueros, perogues, pure egos

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Czech

Noun

superego n

1. superego (psychoanalysis)

   Synonym: nadjá

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Finnish

Etymology

From English superego.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsuper.eɡo/, [ˈs̠upe̞rˌe̞ɡo̞]
• Rhymes: -eɡo
• Syllabification^(key): su‧per‧e‧go

Noun

superego

1. (psychoanalysis) superego

Declension

Inflection of superego (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation)
nominative		superego	superegot
genitive		superegon	superegojen
partitive		superegoa	superegoja
illative		superegoon	superegoihin
		singular	plural
nominative		superego	superegot
accusative	nom.	superego	superegot
	gen.	superegon
genitive		superegon	superegojen
partitive		superegoa	superegoja
inessive		superegossa	superegoissa
elative		superegosta	superegoista
illative		superegoon	superegoihin
adessive		superegolla	superegoilla
ablative		superegolta	superegoilta
allative		superegolle	superegoille
essive		superegona	superegoina
translative		superegoksi	superegoiksi
instructive		—	superegoin
abessive		superegotta	superegoitta
comitative		—	superegoineen

Possessive forms of superego (type valo)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	superegoni	superegomme
2nd person	superegosi	superegonne
3rd person	superegonsa

Synonyms

• yliminä

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Polish

Etymology

From super- +‎ ego.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /su.pɛrˈɛ.ɡɔ/
• Rhymes: -ɛɡɔ
• Syllabification: su‧per‧e‧go

Noun

superego n (indeclinable)

1. (psychoanalysis) superego (the part of the mind that acts as a self-critical conscience, reflecting social standards that have been learnt)

Further reading

• superego in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• superego in Polish dictionaries at PWN

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Portuguese

Alternative forms

• supereu

Noun

superego m (plural superegos)

1. (psychoanalysis) superego (part of the mind that acts as a self-critical conscience)

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /supeˈɾeɡo/ [su.peˈɾe.ɣ̞o]
• Rhymes: -eɡo
• Syllabification: su‧pe‧re‧go

Noun

superego m (plural superegos)

1. superego

Further reading

• “superego”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014