Face

How to spell face

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce face

What does face mean?

1. nounThe front part of a person's head, from forehead to chin.
2. nounThe outward or front surface of an object.
3. verbTo turn toward, confront, or deal with something.

Face in a sentence

• noun

  She splashed cold water on her face to wake up.

• noun

  The climbers studied the rock face before starting up.

• verb

  The windows face the garden at the back of the house.

• noun

  A smile spread across his face when he saw the results.

• noun

  The clock face was scratched but still readable.

• verb

  They had to face the consequences of the missed deadline.

Where does face come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word entered English in the early 1300s from Old French 'face', which descended from the unrecorded Vulgar Latin 'facia', a reshaping of the classical Latin 'facies', meaning 'form, figure, or appearance' and especially the front of the head. The Latin noun is connected to the verb 'facere', meaning 'to make or do', so the underlying idea is something like 'the made form' or the shape a thing presents to the world. From the literal front of the head, English quickly extended the word to the outward surface of any object, such as the face of a clock or a cliff. The figurative senses of dignity and reputation, as in 'saving face', came later and were reinforced by translation of similar expressions from Chinese. The spelling is mercifully regular, with the soft 'c' before 'e' giving the expected /s/ sound.

How the word is built

• face (single root from Latin facies: form, appearance, countenance)