WHAT DO psychic and medium mean?

OHMYGOSSIP – Psychic or medium? What’s the difference between a medium and a psychic?Thanks to their vastly different meanings as adjectives (“referring to the mind in a psychological sense” vs. “the middle of something”), medium and psychic only overlap as nouns. Although they are closely related in the realm of supernatural capabilities, stick to psychic if you’re referring to a person who is sensitive to parapsychological forces or influences.

Some persons seem to be born with a special intuition to always know things before they happen. Others have a special gift allowing them to see ghosts or talk to the dead. But are people with these unique talents psychics or mediums? And can the words psychic and medium be interchanged?

The answer is sometimes; psychic and medium aren’t always synonyms, and despite both having a spooky or supernatural connotation, they have distinct meanings as adjectives but not nouns.

What does psychic mean?
As an adjective, psychic means “of or relating to the human soul or mind,” or something mental as opposed to physical. It’s also defined in psychology as “pertaining to or noting mental phenomena,” which describes being in tune to some nonphysical force or agency. For example, Having heard that colors can provoke a psychic response, I decided to paint the room a calming blue.

Psychic can also mean “sensitive to influences or forces of a nonphysical or supernatural nature.” So if someone or something is influenced by a mysterious force that’s outside physical science or knowledge, it’s a psychic influence. For example, it was a psychic feeling that led him to run out of the building right before a fire started.

Who is a psychic?
A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, such as psychokinesis or apportation.

The word “psychic” is derived from the Greek word psychikos (“of the mind” or “mental”), and refers in part to the human mind or psyche (ex. “psychic turmoil”). The Greek word also means “soul”. In Greek mythology, the maiden Psyche was the deification of the human soul. The word derivation of the Latin psȳchē is from the Greek psȳchḗ, literally “breath”, derivative of psȳ́chein, to breathe or to blow (hence, to live).

French astronomer and spiritualist Camille Flammarion is credited as having first used the word psychic, while it was later introduced to the English language by Edward William Cox in the 1870s.

As an adjective, most relevant synonyms for psychic are:
mental
metaphysical
psychological
spiritual
supernatural
clairvoyant
intellectual
mystic
occult
sensitive
analytic
cerebral
immaterial
impressible
impressionable
intellective
preternatural
psychal
psychical
psychogenic
responsive
sensible
sensile
sentient
supersensible
supersensitive
supersensory
supersensual
susceptible
susceptive
telekinetic
telepathic
transmundane

As a noun, psychic refers to “a person who is sensitive to psychic influences or forces.” For example, since she was a little girl, Anette’s grandmother has sworn she’s a psychic and can tell when something bad will happen. In addition to medium, other synonyms for psychic as a noun include clairvoyant, fortune-teller, and prophet.

First recorded in 1855–60, psychic originates from the Greek word psȳchikós, meaning “of the soul.”

What does medium mean?
If you’re a psychic, you probably already know that next up we’re going to talk about medium and the different meanings it has depending on which part of speech it is.

Medium as an adjective is defined as “about halfway between extremes, as of degree, amount, quality, position, or size.” For example, she has sensitive skin so instead of showering with hot water, she can only handle it at medium temperature. Synonyms for medium in this sense include average and intermediate.

As a noun, medium has a few different distinct meanings including: “a middle state or condition,” “the material or technique with which an artist works,” or “one of the means or channels of general communication, information, or entertainment in society, as newspapers, radio, or television.”

However, similar to psychic, medium can also mean “a person through whom the spirits of the dead are alleged to be able to contact the living.” For example: After her brother died suddenly, Anders went to a medium to connect with her brother’s spirit and communicate one last time. Synonyms for medium as a noun in this sense of being able to contact the dead include spiritualist, clairvoyant, mind reader, and fortune-teller.

Medium originates from the Latin word medius (“middle”) and was first seen in English between 1575–85.

Most relevant antonyms for medium:
abnormal
biased
different
exceptional
extraordinary
extreme
infrequent
irregular
noble
partial
prejudiced
rare
uncommon
unreasonable
unusual

Synonyms for medium are:
intermediate
common
commonplace
fair
mean
median
middle
middling
moderate
neutral
normal
ordinary
par
standard
fairish
medial
mediocre
passable
popular
run-of-the-mill
so-so

Featured photo: Pexels

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