inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.
Psychoanalysis. erotic gratification derived from admiration of one's own physical or mental attributes, being a normal condition at the infantile level of personality development.
Also nar·cism[nahr-siz-uh m]/ˈnɑr sɪz əm/.
Origin of narcissism
From the German word Narzissismus, dating back to 1815–25. See narcissus, -ism
Related formsnar·cis·sist, nar·cist, nounnar·cis·sis·tic, nar·cis·tic, adjectivenon·nar·cism, nounnon·nar·cis·sism, noun
1905, from German Narzissismus, coined 1899 (in "Die sexuellen Perversitäten"), by German psychiatrist Paul Näcke (1851-1913), on a comparison suggested 1898 by Havelock Ellis, from Greek Narkissos, name of a beautiful youth in mythology (Ovid, "Metamorphoses," iii.370) who fell in love with his own reflection in a spring and was turned to the flower narcissus (q.v.). Coleridge used the word in a letter from 1822.
But already Krishna, enamoured of himself, had resolved to experience lust for his own self; he manifested his own Nature in the cow-herd girls and enjoyed them." [Karapatri, "Lingopasana-rahasya," Siddhanta, II, 1941-2]
A psychological condition characterized by self-preoccupation, lack of empathy, and unconscious deficits in self-esteem.
Erotic pleasure derived from contemplation or admiration of one's own body or self, especially as a fixation on or a regression to an infantile stage of development.
The attribute of the human psyche characterized by admiration of oneself but within normal limits.
