Standard Lemma guide

psychopomp

noun · 2 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsaɪkəʊpɒmp/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈsaɪkoʊpɑmp/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A spirit, deity, person, etc., who guides the souls of the dead to the afterlife.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: lifestyle, religion

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a conductor of souls to the afterworld

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • Hermes was their psychopomp

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: imaginary being, imaginary creature

History

Etymology

From Latin psȳchopompus, from Ancient Greek ψῡχοπομπός (psūkhopompós), from ψῡχή (psūkhḗ, “soul”) + πομπός (pompós, “conductor”).

Across languages

Translations

34 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مُرْشِد الأَرْوَاح (muršid al-ʔarwāḥ) — entity who assists souls
  • Basque: psikopompo — entity who assists souls
  • Belarusian: псіхапо́мп (psixapómp) — entity who assists souls
  • Belarusian: псыхапо́мп (psyxapómp) — entity who assists souls
  • Catalan: psicopomp — entity who assists souls
  • Chinese Mandarin: 灵魂向导 — entity who assists souls
  • Dutch: zielengeleider — entity who assists souls
  • Dutch: psychopompos — entity who assists souls
  • Esperanto: psiĥopompo — entity who assists souls
  • Estonian: psühhopomp — entity who assists souls
  • Finnish: psykopompos — entity who assists souls
  • French: psychopompe — entity who assists souls
  • German: Psychopomp — entity who assists souls
  • Bavarian German: Psychopompos — entity who assists souls
  • Bavarian German: Psychopomp — entity who assists souls
  • Greek: ψυχοπομπός (psychopompós) — entity who assists souls
  • Ancient Greek: ψυχοπομπός (psukhopompós) — entity who assists souls
  • Hungarian: pszükhopomposz — entity who assists souls
  • Italian: psicopompo — entity who assists souls
  • Japanese: お迎え現象 (omukae genshō) — entity who assists souls
  • Latin: psȳchopompus — entity who assists souls
  • Lithuanian: psichopompas — entity who assists souls
  • Luxembourgish: Psychopompos — entity who assists souls
  • Norwegian Bokmål: psykopomp — entity who assists souls
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: psykopomp — entity who assists souls
  • Polish: psychopomp — entity who assists souls
  • Portuguese: psicopompo — entity who assists souls
  • Romanian: psihopomp — entity who assists souls
  • Russian: психопо́мп (psixopómp) — entity who assists souls
  • Sicilian: psicupompu — entity who assists souls
  • Spanish: psicopompo — entity who assists souls
  • Swedish: psykopomp — entity who assists souls
  • Thai: ยมทูต (yom-má-tûut) — entity who assists souls
  • Ukrainian: психопомп (psyxopomp) — entity who assists souls