Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “psychotherapist” come from?

Psychotherapist comes from Ancient Greek psychē, formed from the root psychē meaning "soul" and the feminine noun-forming suffix -ē, ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European -eh₂.

psychotherapist (English): Someone who practices psychotherapy

Definitions

  1. Someone who practices psychotherapy

Ancestry of “psychotherapist”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishtherapistSomeone who provides therapy, usually...
2English-istAdded to words to form nouns denoting
3Old French-iste—
4Latin-ista-ist; one who practises or believes
5Ancient Greek-ιστήςAlternative form of -τής; -ist
6Ancient Greek-τήςAppended to verbs to form agent nouns
7Proto-Hellenic-tās—
Every word from Proto-Hellenic -tās →