psycho

[sahy-koh]Slang.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR psycho ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural psy·chos.

a psychopathic or psychotic person.

a crazy or mentally unstable person.

adjective

psychopathic or psychotic.

crazy; mentally unstable.

Origin of psycho

First recorded in 1935–40; by shortening

psycho-

a combining form representing psyche (psychological) and psychological (psychoanalysis) in compound words.

Also especially before a vowel, psych-.

Origin of psycho-

< Greek, combining form of psȳchḗ breath, spirit, soul, mind; akin to psȳ́chein to blow (see psykter)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for psycho

loony, psychotic, crazy, nuts, psychoneurotic, crazed, mad, mental, psychopathic, screwy, unbalanced, certifiable

Examples from the Web for psycho

Contemporary Examples of psycho

In Psycho a psychiatrist (the young Simon Oakland) tells us in clinical terms what we've seen.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days
David Freeman
December 13, 2014
When, in succession, he made Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), and The Birds (1963).
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days
David Freeman
December 13, 2014
To bolster my case I told him we should actually call it Pursuito, like Vertigo or Psycho.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days
David Freeman
December 13, 2014
From Psycho to Frankenstein, watch scenes from the director's 10 favorite creepy classics.
Wes Craven's Favorite Scary Movies
Wes Craven
October 30, 2014
Revisit that horrid 1997 Psycho redo, or the misguided ABC miniseries version of The Shining that came out the same year.
‘Rosemary’s Baby’: How NBC Gave Birth to a New Version of Roman Polanski’s Horror Classic
Kevin Fallon
May 9, 2014

Historical Examples of psycho

Down the hall, a patient screamed suddenly in the psycho ward.
Criminal Negligence
Jesse Francis McComas
It was so in keeping with his features that it served to strengthen the psycho diagnosis.
The Old Martians
Roger Phillips Graham
Hell, don't you know any language but that psycho double-talk?
The Planet Savers
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Psycho wouldn't do you any good if you weren't, that's the truth.
Dangerous Ages
Rose Macaulay
Maybe he was psycho and they didn't notice; they had some godawful asses for psychiatrists in war medicine.
The Brain
Alexander Blade

British Dictionary definitions for psycho

psycho

noun, adjective plural -chos

an informal and offensive word for psychopath or psychopathicSee psychopath

psycho-

sometimes before a vowel psych-

combining form

indicating the mind or psychological or mental processespsychology; psychogenesis; psychosomatic

Word Origin for psycho-

from Greek psukhē spirit, breath

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for psycho

adj.

1927, shortening of psychological; 1936 (Raymond Chandler) as shortening of psychopathic (adj.).

1925, short for psychologist; as short for psychopath from 1942.

psycho-

word-forming element meaning "mind, mental; spirit, unconscious," from Greek psykho-, combining form of psykhe (see psyche). It also was used to form compounds in Greek, e.g. psychopates "soul-beguiling."

psycho in Medicine