This word stems from the Greek “telikos,” meaning “final,” originally from “telos,” meaning “end, goal, result.” The adjective can apply toward actions, meaning it’s directed toward a definite end, or it can be used in a more linguistic sense, meaning the word it’s describing has an end goal. For example, “finished” is a telic verb because it implies total completeness. There’s also a psychological principle that human motivation falls into two primary states: “telic” and “paratelic.” In the telic mode, a person is mostly motivated by a specific goal, like earning a paycheck for completed work. This is also called extrinsic motivation. In the paratelic state, a person is motivated by the activity itself, which is also known as intrinsic motivation.