libido

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin libīdō (“lust, desire”). Used originally in psychoanalytic contexts.

noun

1. (common usage) Sexual urges or drives.
   Good grief man, control your libido!
2. (psychology) Drives or mental energies related to or based on sexual instincts but not necessarily sexual in and of themselves.
   For Freudians, libido means the desire to "unite and bind" with objects in the world.
   The ego as an organ which seeks to synthesize thoughts in the psyche is said to be driven by libido or eros.
3. (astronomy, archaic or misused, an occasional carry-over from astrology to astronomy) Synonym of albedo in terms of a planet's, such as that of Mars, average surface spectral reflectivity.