AMBIVALENCE

[noun]

1. uncertainty or fluctuation, especially when caused by inability to make a choice or by a simultaneous desire to say or do two opposite or conflicting things.

2. Psychology: the coexistence within an individual of positive and negative feelings toward the same person, object, or action, simultaneously drawing him or her in opposite directions.

Etymology: ‘ambi’ - a prefix occurring in loanwords from Latin, meaning “both” (ambiguous) and “around” (ambient); used in the formation of compound words; akin to Greek amphí, Albanian mbë, Old Irish imb, imb-, Welsh, Old Breton am, am- (variant em-), Gaulish amb(i)- (see embassy), Old High German umbi (> German um), Old English ymb(e)-, Sanskrit abhí-tas around + ‘valency’ - Latin valentia - strength, worth, equivalent to valent- (stem of valēns).

[Amjad Rasmi]