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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

ego.

The self, especially with a sense of self-importance.

3 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈiɡo/Multicultural-London-English/ˈiːɡəʊ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɛɡəʊ/obsolete/ˈiɡoʊ/General-American
  1. The self, especially with a sense of self-importance.

    countable · uncountable
  2. The most central part of the mind, which mediates with one's surroundings.

    countable · uncountable
  3. A person's self-esteem and opinion of themselves.

    countable · uncountable
  4. The individual from whose point of view a family tree or pedigree chart is drawn, or the reference point from whom kinship terminology is relative. (Used without the definite article the.)

    countable · uncountable
    the cousin of ego on the father's side
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂ Proto-Italic *egō Archaic Latin eco Latin egobor. English ego Borrowed 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.

verb/ˈiɡo/Multicultural-London-English/ˈiːɡəʊ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈɛɡəʊ/obsolete/ˈiɡoʊ/General-American
  1. To damage someone's ego.

    Internet · transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂ Proto-Italic *egō Archaic Latin eco Latin egobor. English ego Borrowed 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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.