Cacoethes

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cacoēthes, from Ancient Greek κακοήθης (“ill-disposed”), from:

• κακός (“bad”)
• ἦθος (“disposition, nature”)

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌkækəʊˈiːθiːz/
• Audio:
• Hyphenation: ca·co·e·thes

Noun

cacoethes (plural cacoethes)

1. Compulsion; mania; an often irresistible urge (especially toward something harmful or ill-advised).
   • The cacoethes scribendi, the itch to write, has ruined many a peaceful life.
   • He spoke of an incurable cacoethes for contradiction.

1. (medicine, obsolete) A bad quality or disposition in a disease; a malignant tumour or ulcer.
   • Physicians once used cacoethes for stubborn, malignant ulcers.

Usage notes

Not to be confused with cacoethics (“bad ethics or morals; bad habits”).

Alternative forms

• cacoëthes

Derived terms

• cacoethic
• cacoethical
• cacoethically

Video Example

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This song functions as a modern illustration of cacoethes, an irresistible and often self-destructive compulsion toward something harmful.

The repeated lines “Make me an addict” and “Can’t say no to you” emphasize the loss of restraint characteristic of a cacoethes. The speaker is not merely expressing desire, but a recurring, self-aware return to what they know diminishes them (“I’m going dumber every time I answer you”). This reflects the historical sense of cacoethes as an ingrained, almost pathological inclination.

The drug metaphor (“I’m a junkie, you’re the drug,” “quick fix,” “entertainment sickness”) parallels the older medical usage of cacoethes, which referred to a malignant condition resistant to cure. Likewise, the relationship described in the song intensifies despite awareness of its harm.

Rather than simple attraction, the lyrics dramatize a cultivated appetite for ruin, a compulsive surrender that aligns closely with the moral and psychological weight of cacoethes.

In Literature

"Cacoethes Scribendi" by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

The term is the central theme of the 1891 poem "Cacoethes Scribendi" by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

If all the trees in all the woods were men;
And each and every blade of grass a pen;
If every leaf on every shrub and tree
Turned to a sheet of foolscap; every sea
Were changed to ink, and all earth's living tribes
Had nothing else to do but act as scribes,
And for ten thousand ages, day and night,
The human race should write, and write, and write,
Till all the pens and paper were used up,
And the huge inkstand was an empty cup,
Still would the scribblers clustered round its brink
Call for more pens, more paper, and more ink.

Transliteration

• Zhuyin (non-tonal): ㄎㄚ ㄎㄡ ㄧ ㄙ
• Katakana: カコエーシーズ
• Hangul: 캐코이시즈