Word.ws English Dictionary

extimacy

Syllables: ex·tim·a·cyUK/ˈɛkstɪməsi/

extimacy noun: in the works of Jacques Lacan: the quality of being extimate.

Noun

extimacy (countable and uncountable, plural extimacies)

  1. In the works of Jacques Lacan: the quality of being extimate.

Forms of extimacy

pluralextimacies

Origin of extimacy

Calque of French extimité + English -cy (suffix forming nouns of condition, quality, or state). Extimité was coined by the French psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan (1901–1981) in 1959–1960), probably from a blend of French externe (“external”) + intimité (“closeness, intimacy”). By surface analysis, extim(ate) + -acy.

Questions about extimacy

What does extimacy mean?
Extimacy means in the works of Jacques Lacan: the quality of being extimate.
What part of speech is extimacy?
Extimacy is a noun.
How do you pronounce extimacy?
Extimacy is pronounced /ˈɛkstɪməsi/ (UK).
What is the plural of extimacy?
The plural of extimacy is extimacies.

Words near extimacy in the dictionary

  1. extillations
  2. extilled
  3. extilling
  4. extills
  5. extimacies
  6. extimacy
  7. extimate
  8. extimous
  9. extimulate
  10. extimulated
  11. extimulates

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: extimacy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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