introvert

UK/ˈɪn.tɹə.vɜːt/US/ˈɪn.tɹə.vɝt/

nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,459 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: introverts

An introvert is someone who needs time alone to recharge. A natural introvert, introverts and extroverts, she is an introvert.

It is about where energy comes from, not about shyness — an introvert can be perfectly confident in company and still need to be alone afterwards. Jung introduced the pair. The Latin means to turn inward.

Definitions of introvert

1nounintrovertSomeone who needs time alone to recharge.B2+
“She's an introvert, so after a long day of meetings she goes home and reads alone.”

introvert is a type of person.

Where it comes from

Latin introvertere means to turn inward — intro, within, plus vertere, to turn. Jung made it a psychological term.

Proto-Indo-European
*wert-
Latin
introvertere
English, today
introvert

Built from

intro- · Latin — within
vertere · Latin — to turn

From New Latin introvertere, from intro- (“within”) and vertere (“to turn”). Popularized as a psychological term by the German - works of Carl Jung. by surface analysis, intro- + -vert.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Moods & Relationships

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introvert in the wild

The mouth is at the tip of the introvert and is surrounded in most groups by a ring of short tentacles.
Sipuncula
Among Ecdysozoa, their nearest relatives may be Kinorhyncha and Loricifera; together, these three groups form the putative Scalidophora clade, named after the spines covering the introvert (scalids).
Priapulida
The group is named after the spines (scalids) covering the introvert (head that can be retracted into the trunk).
Scalidophora

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the intro- family

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