Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The inner self of an individual; the soul.
  • noun In Jungian psychology.
  • noun The unconscious or true inner self of an individual, as opposed to the persona, or outer aspect of the personality.
  • noun The feminine inner personality, as present in the unconscious of the male. It is in contrast to the animus, which represents masculine characteristics.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Soul; vital principle; the intelligent principle supposed to preside over vital actions: anciently applied to the active principle of a drug, as if this were its soul.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The soul or inner self of a person.
  • noun Jungian psychology The inner self (not the external persona) of a person that is in touch with the unconscious as opposed to the persona.
  • noun Jungian psychology The unconscious feminine aspect of a male.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (Jungian psychology) the inner self (not the external persona) that is in touch with the unconscious

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin; see anə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin anima ("a current of air, wind, air, breath, the vital principle, life, soul"), sometimes equivalent to animus ("mind"), both from Proto-Indo-European *ane- (“to breathe, blow”); see animus. Cognate with Ancient Greek άνεμος (ánemos, "wind"), Old English anda ("anger, envy, zeal"). More at onde.

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