What’s the difference between the Enneagram 4w5 and the 5w4? In this blog, we’re comparing the 4w5, The Bohemian, with the 5w4, The Iconoclast.
What Is An Enneagram Wing?
What is a wing in the enneagram anyway? Your core enneagram type is dictated by your childhood wound. Whatever wounds you experienced at a young age give you your enneagram type and therefore, your core desires and core fears.
Whatever number you say first is your core type. Your enneagram wing, which is the second number, determines your behaviors. As an example, if you were a 9w8, the 9 would be your core enneagram type and the w8 is your wing.
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In this blog, we are comparing the 4w5 with the enneagram 5w4. While they may sound practically the same, there is a huge difference between the two!
How you appear around others varies depending on your wing. Knowing the difference between the enneagram 4w5 and the 5w4 can be so impactful because it helps you avoid mistyping.
Your core desire will be completely different and your path to growth will change!
Enneagram 4w5 vs 5w4 Comparison
This blog breaks down the difference between being an enneagram 4w5 versus being a 5w4.
While the 5 is known as The Investigator and the 4 is The Individualist, your wing will give your type a different name.
The 4w5 is called The Bohemian, their wing makes them serious, eccentric, confident, and inquisitive. But the 5w4 is called The Iconoclast. They appear quirky, creative, quiet, philosophical, and imaginative.
The Bohemian’s first priority is to be important. They fulfill this by being capable, competent, and bringing valuable information to the group.
But The Iconoclast’s priority is on maintaining their resources. They do this by spending time being creative, pondering life’s questions, and breaking false constructs.
Enneagram Type 4: The Individualist
With the name The Individualist, the enneagram 4’s core desire is to be important. These people are expressive, quirky, creative, and emotionally in tune.
They present themselves as unique, original, wild, selfless, and fun in order to be important to others. (Often mistyped as the 7!)
In stress, they behave like the type 2 and forgo their authenticity in favor of selflessness to be valuable to others.
Enneagram Type 5: The Investigator
Enneagram 5’s are logical, cerebral, analytical, and introverted. Their core desire is to have resources and knowledge. This makes these people generally very introverted, spend a lot of time alone, and hoard things for a sense of security.
These people can become confident leaders or, at their worst, indulgent and irresponsible. The type 5 is afraid of being incapable and coming to harm because they didn’t think things through enough.
Read below to compare the differences between the enneagram 4w5 and the 5w4…
Enneagram 4w5
The 4w5s core desire is to be important for how different they are. The last thing the Bohemian wants is to be conventional.
This is the more introverted of the two 4 wings. 4w5s should spend plenty of time alone to process their feelings and do the things they love.
The Bohemian will take on the appearance of The Investigator in some aspects, meaning that they seem serious, systematic, eccentric, and factual. 4w5s are researchers and love having the facts for everything.
A 4w5 will care more about spending time creating/doing their own thing than doing whatever the group does. If someone wants to join them in doing that, great. But if not, they’ll happily be the lone wolf.
4w5s prefer to have a small social circle than be part of big social groups. Especially if they’ll have to shrink themselves to fit in. If you’re a 4w5, make sure you are finding those people who you feel understood, welcome, and authentic around.
The 4 is also in the shame triad. They struggle with feeling unworthy more than the 5 does.
Enneagram 5w4
Known as The Iconoclast and taking on the appearance of The Individualist in many ways, the 5w4 is quirky, creative, philosophical, imaginative, and unconventional.
The Iconoclast is the more introverted 5-wing variant (although, the 5 is generally an introverted type). The 5w4 wants to be creative and to have their creativity be important to the world.
Where the 4 cares about being important, the 5 doesn’t. The 5w4’s core desire is to have their resources. While they would love to have a controversial and philosophical conversation with someone, they’ll happily keep their thoughts to themselves if no opportunity presents itself.
The 5w4 loves to talk theory, possibility, and philosophy all through an analytical lens.
The definition of the word “Iconoclast” is “a person who attacks cherished beliefs or institutions.” The 5w4 wants to question all the information that comes your way and share it either through writing, speech, or art.
The 4w5 on the other hand just wants facts. They are so focused on making sure they are seen for who they are and their expertise that they’d rather avoid talking about possibilities or theory.
The 5w4 is in the fear triad, not the shame triad. This means they care less about what people think of them and instead, struggle with a fear of being incapable.
Enneagram 4w3 VS 5w6
Because each enneagram type has the ability to tap into both wings, it’s important to take them into account when figuring out if you are a 4w5 or a 5w4.
The Enneagram 4w5 Also Has A 3 Wing
Even if you are an enneagram 4 with a dominant 5 wing, you have the ability to tap into your 3 wing.
Known as The Aristocrat, your 3 wing makes you social, loud, competitive, and ambitious.
This wing 3 gives you the desire to be the best and achieve great things (if people see you do these things, that’s a bonus). Deep down, you can struggle with being image-conscious.
But if you are an enneagram 5 with a 4 wing, you aren’t as achievement-driven. Nor are you image-conscious.
The Enneagram 5w4 Also Has An 6 Wing
As an enneagram 5 with a dominant 4 wing, you have the ability to tap into your 6 wing.
Your 6 wing, known as The Problem Solver, makes you focused on attaining future stability. You can appear cautious, dedicated, loyal, stable, and orderly at times.
Deep down, you have a desire for loyalty and you’ll go about achieving that by keeping your close-knit community together.
This can seem a lot like the 4w5’s desire for belonging but the main difference is the 4 will be much happier if they just find one person who makes them feel important.
The 4w5 will be unhappy if they have a little too much routine in their life. The 5w4 thrives on routine.
Hope this 4w5 vs 5w4 comparison helped you find your type! Leave a comment below if it did!
Download the Enneagram cheatsheets to overcome common mistypes and understand each enneagram simply. Just click here!
Related Blogs:
- Enneagram 4w3 VS 4w5 Comparison: Which Wing Are You?
- Enneagram 5w4 VS 5w6 Comparison: Which Wing Are You?
- Enneagram 5w6 VS 6w5: Which Are You?
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