libido

Learned borrowing from Latin libīdō (“lust, desire”). Used originally in psychoanalytic contexts.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /lɪˈbiː.dəʊ/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ləˈbi.doʊ/, /lɪˈ-/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːdəʊ

libido (countable and uncountable, plural libidos)

1. (common usage) Sexual urges or drives.

   Synonym: (vulgar) horniness

   Antonym: frigidity

   Good grief man, control your libido!

2. (psychology) Drives or mental energies related to or based on sexual instincts but not necessarily sexual in and of themselves.

   Antonyms: destrudo, mortido

   Hypernym: drive

   For Freudians, libido means the desire to "unite and bind" with objects in the world.

   The ego as an organ which seeks to synthesize thoughts in the psyche is said to be driven by libido or eros.

3. (astronomy, archaic or misused, an occasional carry-over from astrology to astronomy) Synonym of albedo in terms of a planet's, such as that of Mars, average surface spectral reflectivity.

• → Mandarin: 力比多 (lìbǐduō)
• → Irish: libídeo
• → Japanese: リビドー (ribidō)
• → Korean: 리비도 (ribido)

• nymphomaniac, hypersexuality, masturbator

Learned borrowing from Latin libīdō.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [liˈβi.ðu]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [liˈbi.ðo]

libido f (plural libidos)

1. libido

• libidinal
• libidinós

• “libido”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026

Learned borrowing from Latin libīdō.

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɪbɪdo]

• Hyphenation: li‧bi‧do

libido n

1. libido

• “libido”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “libido”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Learned borrowing from Latin libīdō.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlibido/, [ˈlibido̞]
• Rhymes: -ibido
• Syllabification^(key): li‧bi‧do
• Hyphenation^(key): li‧bi‧do

libido

1. libido

• “libido”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

Learned borrowing from Latin libīdō.

• IPA^(key): /li.bi.do/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

libido f (usually uncountable, plural libidos)

1. sex drive, libido

• libidinal
• libidineux

• → Turkish: libido

• “libido”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Learned borrowing from Latin libīdō.

• IPA^(key): /liˈβið̞ʊ/

libido f (plural libidos)

1. libido

• libidonoso

• “libido”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026

libido f (invariable)

1. (psychoanalysis) libido

• libidine

• bolidi

• lubīdō

From libet (“it is pleasing”) +‎ -īdō. De Vaan suggests that the suffix was originally -ēdō, but it was altered under the influence of cupīdō.^[1]

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [lɪˈbiː.doː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [liˈbiː.do]

libīdō f (genitive libīdinis); third declension

1. desire, fancy, inclination, longing, pleasure, caprice, passion, wantonness

   Synonyms: cupīdō, studium, appetītiō, dēsīderium, appetītus, amor, impetus, ardor, inclīnātiō, prōpēnsiō, avāritia

   • 55 BCE, Cicero, De oratore 3.1:

     Haec tibi est incīdenda lingua, quā vel ēvulsā spīritū ipsō libīdinem tuam lībertās mea refūtābit.

     (For that) you must sever this tongue of mine, and even if it is torn out, the freedom in my very breath will confound your wantonness.

2. lust, sensuality

   Synonyms: amor, cupīdō

   Libīdō vincit omnia.

   Lust conquers everything.

   • c. 4 BCE – 65 CE, Seneca Minor, De brevitate vitae 7:

     In prīmīs autem et illōs numerō quī nūllī reī nisi vīnō ac libīdinī vacant; nūllī enim turpius occupātī sunt.

     But among the worst I count also those who have time for nothing but wine and lust; for none have more shameful engrossments.

   • 121 CE, Suetonius, De vita Caesarum 3 44:

     Maiōre adhūc ac turpiōre īnfāmiā flagrāvit, vix ut referrī audīrīve, nēdum crēdī fās sit, quasi puerōs prīmae teneritūdinis, quōs pisciculōs vocābat, īnstitueret, ut natantī sibi inter femina versārentur ac lūderent linguā morsūque sēnsim adpetentēs; atque etiam quasi īnfantēs firmiōrēs, necdum tamen lacte dēpulsōs, inguinī ceu papillae admovēret, prōnior sānē ad id genus libīdinis et nātūrā et aetāte.

     He was excited with a greater and more shameful infamy, that hardly can be told or heard, by no means be believed to be allowed by the gods, like how he trained little boys of the tenderest age, which he called 'little fish', to go around between his thighs and rouse his senses with the tongue and by biting, while he was swimming; or even how he put stronger babies, not weaned yet, to his genitals as if to nipples, certainly more inclined to this kind of lechery by nature as well as by age.

Third-declension noun.

• “libido”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “libido”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “libido”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • anger is defined as a passionate desire for revenge: iracundiam sic (ita) definiunt, ut ulciscendi libidinem esse dicant or ut u. libido sit or iracundiam sic definiunt, ulc. libidinem
    
  • to be carried away by one's passions: libidine ferri
    
  • to abandon oneself (entirely) to debauchery: se (totum) libidinibus dedere
    
  • to bridle one's desires: refrenare cupiditates, libidines
    
  • to arouse some one's lust: libidinem alicuius excitare
    
  • the passions win the day: libido dominatur (Or. 65. 219)
    
  • the storm of passion has abated: libido consēdit
    

From Latin libīdō.

• IPA^(key): /liˈbi.dɔ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -idɔ
• Syllabification: li‧bi‧do

libido n (indeclinable)

1. (common usage) libido (sexual urges or drives)

   Synonyms: popęd seksualny, pożądanie seksualne, chuć

2. (psychoanalysis) libido (drives or mental energies related or based on sexual instincts but not necessarily sexual in and of themselves)

• “libido”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[3] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “libido”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[4] (in Polish)

• líbido

• Hyphenation: li‧bi‧do

libido m or f (plural libidos)

1. (psychology) libido (sexual urges or drives)
2. (psychology) libido (drives based on sexual instincts)

• “libido”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “libido”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from Latin libido or French libido.

libido n (uncountable)

1. sex drive, libido

From Latin libīdō.

• IPA^(key): /lǐbido/
• Hyphenation: li‧bi‧do

lìbido m inan (Cyrillic spelling лѝбидо)

1. libido

• lȉbidinōzan

Learned borrowing from Latin libīdō.

• IPA^(key): /ʎibidɔ/, (high register) [ˈʎibidɔ], (common) [ˈlibidɔ]
• Rhymes: -idɔ
• Hyphenation: li‧bi‧do

libido n

1. libido

• “libido”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026

From Latin libīdō.

• IPA^(key): /líːbidɔ/

lȋbido m inan

1. libido

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nom. sing.	líbido
gen. sing.	líbida
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	líbido	líbida	líbidi
genitive (rodȋlnik)	líbida	líbidov	líbidov
dative (dajȃlnik)	líbidu	líbidoma	líbidom
accusative (tožȋlnik)	líbido	líbida	líbide
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	líbidu	líbidih	líbidih
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	líbidom	líbidoma	líbidi

• libidinózen

From Latin libīdō.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /liˈbido/ [liˈβ̞i.ð̞o]
• Rhymes: -ido
• Syllabification: li‧bi‧do

• There is a certain tendency to pronounce libido as /ˈli.bi.do/ due to the influence of lívido, but this pronunciation is incorrect according to the Spanish orthography and thus not recommended.^[2]

libido f (plural libidos)

1. libido, sex drive

• “libido”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Borrowed from English libido.

libido class IX (plural libido class X)

1. libido

   Synonyms: ashiki, nyege

libido c

1. libido (sexual urges or drives)

   Synonym: könsdrift

2. (psychology) libido

• “libido”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “libido”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)