Meaning

noun (psychoanalysis) the libidinal energy invested in some idea or person or object

originFrom Ancient Greek κάθεξις (káthexis, “holding, retention”). The term entered the English language as a translation for the common everyday German word Besetzung, which in the context of psychoanalysis means "occupation" in the sense of a position or something being occupied or filled, and not a military occupation of a place or the filling of job positions (although it can also mean either of…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0