Narzissmus

German

Alternative forms

• Narzißmus, Narzissismus (obsolete)

Etymology

Haplology of earlier Narzissismus. Coined by Sigmund Freud from Narziss (“character in Greek mythology who became obsessed with his own reflection”) +‎ -ismus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /naʁˈt͡sɪsmʊs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: Nazismus (some speakers)

Noun

Narzissmus m (strong, genitive Narzissmus, plural (rare) Narzissmen)

1. narcissism

Usage notes

• The spelling Narzissmus has been the prescribed spelling since the German spelling reform of 1996 (the Rechtschreibreform). In Switzerland and Liechtenstein, it had already been standard since ⟨ß⟩ was deprecated in the 1930s. In the affected areas, the previous spelling (Narzißmus) is now less common, and may be regarded as a misspelling.

Declension

Declension of Narzissmus [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Narzissmus	die	Narzissmen1
genitive	eines	des	Narzissmus	der	Narzissmen1
dative	einem	dem	Narzissmus	den	Narzissmen1
accusative	einen	den	Narzissmus	die	Narzissmen1

¹Rare.

Related terms

• Narzisst
• narzisstisch

Further reading

• “Narzissmus” in Duden online
• Narzissmus on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de