Standard Lemma guide

psi

name · noun · symbol · 9 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • psī
  • /psaɪ/
  • /saɪ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • homophone: xi
  • homophone: sigh
  • homophone: scye
  • homophone: sai
  • homophone: Si (all for the latter pronunciation only)
  • rhymes with -aɪ
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • homophone: Si
  • CMU ARPABET: S AY1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

Initialism of Policy Studies Institute, a British think tank.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: UK, abbreviation, alt-of, initialism

Topics: government, politics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The twenty-third letter of Classical and Modern Greek and the twenty-fifth letter of Old and Ancient Greek.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A form of psychic energy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: literature, media, parapsychology, pseudoscience, publishing, science-fiction

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

Initialism of pre-sentence investigation.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, initialism

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Initialism of protein structure initiative.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, initialism

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

Initialism of pollutant safety/standard index (measurement of the air pollutant such as haze).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, initialism

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

symbol

Meaning 7

Pound per square inch (an imperial unit of pressure)

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: letter, letter of the alphabet, alphabetic character

9

noun

Meaning 9

a unit of pressure

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: pounds per square inch

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: pressure unit

History

Etymology

From Middle English psi, from Latin psī, from Ancient Greek ψεῖ (pseî), the name for the twenty-third letter of the alphabet (Ψ, ψ).

Initialism of pounds per square inch.

Across languages

Translations

28 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: پْسِي (psī) — Greek letter
  • Arabic: بْسِي (bsī) — Greek letter
  • Asturian: psi — Greek letter
  • Catalan: psi — Greek letter
  • Chinese Mandarin: 普西 (pǔxī) — Greek letter
  • Czech: psí — Greek letter
  • Dutch: psi — Greek letter
  • Esperanto: psio — Greek letter
  • Finnish: psii — Greek letter
  • French: psi — Greek letter
  • German: Psi — Greek letter
  • Greek: ψι (psi) — Greek letter
  • Ancient Greek: ψεῖ (pseî) — Greek letter
  • Hebrew: פְּסִי (psi) — Greek letter
  • Hungarian: pszi — Greek letter
  • Interlingua: psi — Greek letter
  • Irish: sí — Greek letter
  • Italian: psi — Greek letter
  • Japanese: プシー (pushī) — Greek letter
  • Japanese: プスィ (pusi) — Greek letter
  • Japanese: プサイ (pusai) — Greek letter
  • Korean: 프시 (peusi) — Greek letter
  • Malay: psi — Greek letter
  • Persian: سای — Greek letter
  • Polish: psi — Greek letter
  • Portuguese: psi — Greek letter
  • Russian: пси (psi) — Greek letter
  • Spanish: psi — Greek letter