libido (English)

Where does "libido" come from?

The English noun 'libido', meaning sexual urges or mental energies based on sexual instincts[1], is a learned borrowing from Latin 'libīdō', which translates to 'lust' or 'desire'[1][2]. The Latin term descends from Proto-Italic '*luβēō', meaning 'to desire'[2]. This ultimately traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root '*lewbʰ-', meaning 'love', 'care', or 'desire'[2][3]. The word was adopted into English originally for psychoanalytic contexts[1].

Open questions

• The Proto-Italic and Proto-Indo-European forms are reconstructed ancestral stages. [2] [3]

Full etymology tree

• libido (English), 'Sexual urges or drives.'
  • learned borrowing libido (Latin), 'desire, fancy, inclination, longing, pleasure, caprice, passion, wantonness'
    • derived *luβēō (Proto-Italic), 'to desire'
      • derived *luβējō (Proto-Italic)
        • derived *lubʰ-eh₁-(ye)-ti (Proto-Indo-European)
          • derived *lewbʰ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to desire, covet, want (someone or something)'

Ancestors

• *lewbʰ- (Proto-Indo-European)
• libido (Latin)

Descendants and derived words

• antilibido (English)
• libidinize (English)
• libidoless (English)
• non-libidoist (English)
• non-libidoist (English)
• libídeo (Irish)
• リビドー (Japanese)
• 리비도 (Korean)

Sources

1. libido (English) - Wiktionary
2. libido (Latin) - Wiktionary
3. luβēō (Proto-Italic) - Wiktionary

Updated September 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris