'Schizophrenia' is Greek for 'split mind' — coined 1908 by Bleuler. Not 'split personality.'
A severe mental disorder characterized by distortions in thinking, perception, emotions, language, sense of self, and behavior, often including hallucinations and delusions.
Coined by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler from Greek 'skhízein' (to split, to cleave) and 'phrḗn' (mind, midriff, diaphragm). Bleuler intended the name to describe the 'splitting' of mental functions — the disconnection between thought, emotion, and behavior — not a 'split personality' as commonly misunderstood. Greek 'skhízein' derives from PIE *skeid- (to split, to separate), the source of English 'schism' and related to 'shed,' 'sheath,' and 'ski.' Greek 'phrḗn' derives from PIE *gʷʰren- (midriff, mind). Key
The word 'schizophrenia' has caused more public misunderstanding than perhaps any other medical term. Most people believe it means 'split personality' — two distinct personalities alternating in one body. It does not. That condition is dissociative identity disorder. Bleuler meant a split between mental functions: thoughts disconnected from emotions, perceptions disconnected from reality