Freudian slip

speech error

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June 26, 2026

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A Freudian slip, also known as a slip of the tongue, is a speech error believed to reveal an unconscious aspect of the mind. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, first identified this concept in his 1901 book, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. He theorized that these involuntary verbal mistakes stem from repressed knowledge or impulses.12

Freud explored these everyday errors, including slips of the tongue or pen, misreadings, and forgetting names, in his work. He understood these slips to have symptomatic importance and be open to interpretation. While not always betraying a repressed infantile wish, they can arise from more immediate feelings like hostility or jealousy.3

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Sigmund Freud
Further theoretical development
…or pen (later colloquially called Freudian slips), misreadings, or forgetting of names. These errors Freud understood to have symptomatic and thus interpretable importance. But unlike dreams they need not betray a repressed infantile wish yet can arise from more immediate hostile, jealous, or egoistic causes.
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…or pen (later colloquially called Freudian slips), misreadings, or forgetting of names. These errors Freud understood to have symptomatic and thus interpretable importance. But unlike dreams they need not betray a repressed infantile wish yet can arise from more immediate hostile, jealous, or egoistic causes.
Read More