# cathect

> English word · Verb · IPA /kəˈθɛkt/

## Definitions
1. To focus one's emotional energies on someone or something.

## Etymology
Back-formation from cathexis and cathectic. A loan creation coined by British psychoanalyst James Strachey translating Freud’s German besetzen.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/cathect