ambiversion

English

Etymology

From ambi- (prefix meaning ‘both’) +‎ Latin versiōnem (from versiō (“change, turning; version”), from vertō (“to turn; to turn around”), from Proto-Indo-European *wértti (“to be turning around”), from *wert- (“to rotate, turn”)), modelled after extroversion and introversion.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /æmbɪˈvɜːʃ(ə)n/, /-ʒ(ə)n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌæmbəˈvɚʃən/, /-ʒən/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ʃən
• Hyphenation: am‧bi‧ver‧sion

Noun

ambiversion (uncountable)

1. (psychology) A personality trait having balanced characteristics of both extroversion and introversion.
   • 1923 January–March, Edmund S. Conklin, “The Definition of Introversion, Extroversion and Allied Concepts”, in Morton Prince, Floyd H[enry] Allport, editors, The Journal of Abnormal Psychology and Social Psychology, volume XVII, number 4, Albany, N.Y.: Published by Boyd Printing Company, Inc. […], →OCLC, page 377:

     The definition of ambiversion grows then directly out of the two preceding [extroversion and introversion] and is to be stated as a condition of development in which attention is controlled by either objective or subjective conditions of attention and in which the content of the subjective conditions is so varied as to make possible more or less prolonged periods of either extroversion or introversion.

Derived terms

• ambivert
• ambiverted

Translations

personality trait having balanced characteristics of both extroversion and introversion

• French: ambiversion
• Portuguese: ambiversão (pt) f
• Vietnamese: hướng trung

Further reading

• extraversion and introversion on Wikipedia.Wikipedia