psych
/saɪk/noun, verb, interjection, adjective
psych is spelled P-S-Y-C-H: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,368th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “psych vs sike” about 170 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, psych means “Clipping of psychiatry” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of psych is psychs or psyches.
How many letters and syllables are in psych?
| Letters | 5: P-S-Y-C-H |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.0 times per million words; the 15,368th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is psych?
Psych appears 3.0 times per million words in written English, the 15,368th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce psych?
- US /saɪk/
Psych has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-psych.wav, En-ca-psych.opus, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with psych
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: cyc, sike (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: psyche.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with psych?
5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as psych from its last stressed vowel (/aɪk/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of psych
- psychs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- psyche
- psyching participle, present
- psyched participle, past
- sike
- syke
- psyches plural
- more psych comparative
- most psych superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does psych mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
informalClipping of psychiatry.
- 2
informalA psychiatric hospital or other treatment facility; also, a psychiatric department or ward in such a facility.
He had to be involuntarily committed to the psych ward.
- 3
informalClipping of psychology.
I took psych in my freshman year at college.
- 4
informalClipping of psychiatrist.
- 5
informalClipping of psychologist; also, a clipping of psychoanalyst.
- 6
informalrareslangClipping of psychic (“a person who possesses, or appears to possess, extra-sensory abilities such as clairvoyance, precognition, and telepathy, or who appears to be susceptible to paranormal or supernatural influences”).
- 7
informalslangClipping of psychic or psychic bid (“a bid intended to mislead opponents by giving a false impression about one's hand of playing cards”).
- 8
informalslangClipping of psychedelic rock (“a genre of rock music influenced by psychedelia, blues, electronic music, folk music, jazz, and the hippie counterculture of the 1960s”).
verb
- 1
informalClipping of psychoanalyse (“to treat (someone) using psychoanalysis”); also, to carry out psychological testing on (someone).
- 2
informalChiefly followed by out: to analyse (something), especially psychologically; also (generally), to work out (something).
- 3
informalOften followed by out: to deceive, intimidate, or otherwise manipulate (someone or oneself) emotionally or using psychology.
- 4
informalOften followed by up: to put (someone or oneself) into a mental or psychological state where one is ready for some (often challenging) experience; specifically, to make (someone or oneself) enthusiastic or excited about something.
Hip hop always gets me psyched, so I put it on before a race.
- 5
informalOf a person: to get into a mental or psychological state where one is ready for some (often challenging) experience; specifically, to make oneself enthusiastic or excited about something.
- 6
USinformalFollowed by out: to become mentally confused or disturbed.
- 7
informalslangTo make (a bid) intended to mislead opponents by giving a false impression about one's hand of playing cards.
- 8
informalslangTo deceive (an opponent or opponents) with such a psychic bid.
- 9
informalslangTo make a bid intended to mislead opponents by giving a false impression about one's hand of playing cards; to make a psychic bid.
interjection
- 1
informalslangUsed to indicate jokingly that a statement which one has made was false and that one has successfully fooled the person whom one is speaking to; just kidding!, not!, tricked you!
Here, have fifty dollars. Psych! That was two dollars!
- 2
informalslangUsed to express surprised happiness; wow!
Psych! I just found my missing bracelet!
adjective
- 1
informalslangClipping of psychedelic (“of, containing, generating, or reminiscent of drug-induced altered awareness, distortions of perception, hallucinations, etc.”).
curtains with psych colours psych-rock
- 2
informalslangOf or relating to psychedelic rock music.
a psych album a psych band
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does psych come from?
Clipping of psychiatry and psychology.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).