The Latin root word ego means “I.” Not that you should get a big ego about knowing this root word, but it will undoubtedly be handy to know when encountering words with the root word ego in them!
Everybody knows that someone with a big ego is always thinking about himself and tells everybody about how great he is, for he is always thinking about “I,” that is, himself. You can almost hear the thoughts of someone who has a big ego, which must have the word “I” included about every other word! “I” am, “I” am, “I” am so wonderful! Good grief!
Someone who has a big ego is said to be egotistical or highly self-centered, for she talks about herself constantly and believes herself to be better than just about anyone else. Someone who is egotistical is known as an egotist or egoist, both words of which refer to someone who dwells on the almighty “I” each and every day to an extreme—there’s little room for doing things halfway in egotist or egoist land!
However, there are egotists … and then there are egotists on steroids. In fact, some egotists who are really into egotism or egoism are so egocentric or self-centered that they are referred to as egomaniacs, for those people are so excessively, abnormally, and obsessively concerned with themselves and themselves alone that they deem themselves and their ideas to be of the utmost importance, far exceeding anyone else. Such egomaniacal characters are so into themselves that there is no reasoning with them, for the almighty “I” rules supreme. Now that’s one big EGO! These egomaniacs apparently lack a superego, or that part of the mind which looks over the ego to make sure that it doesn’t step out of line from a moral standpoint.
Although there is no need to get a big ego about knowing that the root word ego means “I,” nevertheless there is no reason that you cannot be proud of it!
- ego: the way a person thinks about herself, that is, her “I”
- egotistical: thinking about “I” a little too much
- egotist: one who excessively thinks about “I”
- egoist: another word for “egotist”
- egotism: thinking excessively about “I”
- egoism: another word for “egotism”
- egomaniac: thinking about “I” way too much
- egomaniacal: of thinking about “I” way too much
- superego: that part of the ego or “I” that watches over what it does