psi

See also: Psi, PSI, psí, and pśi

English

Ancient Greek Alphabet

← chi		→ omega
Ψ ψ Ancient Greek: ψεῖ
Wikipedia article on psi

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek ψεῖ (pseî), the name for the twenty-third letter of the alphabet (Ψ, ψ).

Pronunciation

Greek letter

• enPR: psī, sī, IPA^(key): /psaɪ/, /saɪ/

• Audio (US); “psi” (Greek letter):

  (file)

• Homophones: xi, sigh, scye, sai, Si (all for the latter pronunciation only)
• Rhymes: -aɪ

Psychic energy

• enPR: sī, IPA^(key): /saɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophones: xi, sigh, scye, sai, Si
• Rhymes: -aɪ

Noun

psi (countable and uncountable, plural psis)

1. (countable) The twenty-third letter of Classical and Modern Greek and the twenty-fifth letter of Old and Ancient Greek.
2. (uncountable, parapsychology, science fiction) A form of psychic energy.
   • 1993, Will Self, My Idea of Fun:

     ‘Come, lad,’ he said. ‘We will take tea together and speak of the noumenon, the psi and other more heterogenous phenomena.’

   • 1996, Michael F. Stoeber, Hugo Anthony Meynell, Critical Reflections on the Paranormal (page 60)

     When an event is classified as a psi phenomenon, it is claimed that all known channels for the apparent interaction have been eliminated.

   • 2005, Michael Ashley, Transformations: The History of the Science Fiction Magazine 1950 to 1970, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, page 133:

     It traces the growth of homo gestalt with the uniting of six lovely outcasts of society who have psi powers and come together as a hive mind, thus creating a gestalt super-being.

Derived terms

• psi function
• psi particle

Translations

Greek letter

• Arabic: پْسِي m (psī), بْسِي m (bsī)
• Asturian: psi (ast)
• Catalan: psi (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 普西 (zh) (pǔxī)

• Czech: psí (cs) n
• Dutch: psi (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: psio (eo)
• Finnish: psii (fi)
• French: psi (fr) m
• German: Psi (de) n
• Greek: ψι (el) n (psi)

  Ancient: ψεῖ n (pseî)

• Hebrew: פְּסִי f (psi)
• Hungarian: pszi (hu)
• Interlingua: psi
• Irish: sí f
• Italian: psi (it)
• Japanese: プシー (ja) (pushī), プスィ (pusi), プサイ (ja) (pusai)
• Korean: 프시 (ko) (peusi)
• Malay: psi
• Persian: سای (fa)
• Polish: psi (pl) n
• Portuguese: psi (pt) m
• Russian: пси (ru) n (psi)
• Spanish: psi (es) f

psychic energy

See also

• (Greek letter): Previous: chi, Next: omega

Etymology 2

Initialism of pounds per square inch.

Alternative forms

• P.S.I.
• PSI

Symbol

psi

1. Pounds per square inch (an imperial unit of pressure)

Related terms

psia

Anagrams

• IPS, IPs, ISP, Isp, PIs, SIP, SPI, iPS, isp, pis, sip

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈpsi]

Noun

psi f (plural psis)

1. Psi; the Greek letter Ψ (lowercase ψ)

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈpsɪ]

Noun

psi

1. nominative/vocative plural of pes

Dutch

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ψεῖ (pseî).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /psi/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

psi m or f (plural psi's, diminutive psi'tje n)

1. psi (letter of the Greek alphabet)

Further reading

• psi on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /psi/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: psy, psys

Noun

psi m (plural psi)

1. psi (Greek letter)

Further reading

• “psi”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• pis, spi

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpsi/^*
• Rhymes: -i
• Hyphenation: psì

Noun

psi m or f (invariable)

1. psi (Greek letter)

Anagrams

• spi

Polish

Etymology 1

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *pьsьjь. By surface analysis, pies +‎ -i.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɕi/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: psi

Adjective

psi (not comparable, no derived adverb)

1. (relational) canine, dog

   Synonyms: pieski, (archaic) sobaczy

Declension

Declension of psi (soft)

singular					plural
	masculine animate	masculine inanimate	feminine	neuter	virile (= masculine personal)	non-virile
nominative	psi		psia	psie	psi	psie
genitive	psiego		psiej	psiego	psich
dative	psiemu		psiej	psiemu	psim
accusative	psiego	psi	psią	psie	psich	psie
instrumental	psim		psią	psim	psimi
locative	psim		psiej	psim	psich

Derived terms

nouns

• psia pogoda
• psie pieniądze

 

Related terms

verb

• psocić impf

 

nouns

• psota
• psotnica
• psotnik

 

Etymology 2

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ψῖ (psî).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpsi/
• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: psi

Noun

psi n (indeclinable)

1. psi (Greek letter Ψ, ψ)

Etymology 3

Onomatopoeic

Pronunciation

• (Masovia):
  • (Near Masovian) IPA^(key): /ˈpɕi/

Interjection

psi

1. (Near Masovian, often repeated) used to call young dogs

   Coordinate term: a cucu

Derived terms

nouns

• psina
• psinka

 

Further reading

• psi in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• psi in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Władysław Matlakowski (1891) “psi”, in “Zbiór wyrazów ludowych dawnej ziemi czerskiej”, in Sprawozdania Komisyi Językowej Akademii Umiejętności, volume 4, Krakow: Drukarnia Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, page 372

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /piˈsi/, /ˈpsi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /piˈsi/, /ˈpsi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpsi/, /piˈsi/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpsi/

• Rhymes: -i
• Hyphenation: psi

Etymology 1

Derived from Ancient Greek ψεῖ (pseî)

Noun

psi m (plural psis)

1. (countable) psi (name of the Greek letter Ψ)

Etymology 2

Noun

psi m or f by sense (plural psis)

1. (informal) Clipping of psicólogo.

References

• "psi", in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa [em linha], 2008-2024, https://dicionario.priberam.org/psi.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Greek ψι (psi).

Noun

psi m (plural psi)

1. psi

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	psi	psiul		psi	psii
genitive-dative	psi	psiului		psi	psilor
vocative	psiule			psilor

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [psi]

Noun

psi m anim

1. nominative plural of pes

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsi/ [ˈsi]
• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: psi

Noun

psi f (plural psíes)

1. psi; the Greek letter Ψ, ψ

Further reading

• “psi”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10