Schizo

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Pronunciation: /ˈskɪtsoʊ/

Definitions

1. A casual label for someone demonstrating unpredictable behavior or conflicting thought patterns
2. A commonly used phrase to denote a person appearing to have a split in their emotions or actions
3. A slang term used to describe someone who shows inconsistent or conflicting mental states

Etymology: Schizo is a clipping of "schizophrenic," so its story begins with a Greek compound. "Schizophrenia" was built from the Greek "schizein," meaning "to split," and "phren," meaning "mind," and the Latin-derived adjective ending "-ic" was added on the way into English. The short form then took over the everyday slang sense of someone whose moods or behaviour seem split between conflicting states. The "-ic" ending itself has a long path. It descends from a Proto-Italic suffix that passed into Latin as "-icus," moved through Old French as "-ique," and reached Middle English as "-ik" before settling as the English "-ic" seen in words like this one. The clipped form is a simple shortening: the full adjective was trimmed to its first syllables, which is why the slang keeps the "schiz-" sound of the Greek root while dropping the rest.

Synonyms: schizophrenic