Psȳ'chic or Psȳ'chic-al, a.

(sī'kik), a. [Lat. psychicus, Gr. ψυχικός, fr. ψυχή, the soul, mind; Fr. psychique.] Of, or pertaining to, the human soul; relating to the living principle in man.

☞ This term was formerly used to express the same idea as psychological. Recent metaphysicians, however, have employed it to mark the difference between ψυχή, the living principle in man, and πνεῦμα, the rational or spiritual part of his nature. In this use, the word describes the human soul in its relation to sense, appetite, and the outer visible world, as distinguished from spiritual or rational faculties, which have to do with the supersensible world. Heyse.