Phase

How to spell phase

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce phase

What does phase mean?

1. nounA distinct stage or period in a process of change or development.
2. verbTo introduce or carry out something gradually, in planned stages.

Phase in a sentence

• noun

  The project entered its final phase ahead of schedule.

• verb

  The company plans to phase in the new software over six months.

• noun

  The toddler is going through a clingy phase at the moment.

• verb

  Regulators will phase out the older diesel engines by the end of the decade.

Where does phase come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek phasis, meaning 'appearance' or 'a showing forth', which was built on the verb phainein, 'to show' or 'to bring to light'. Astronomers first used it of the changing appearances of the Moon as it waxes and wanes, since each visible shape is one stage in a regular cycle. It reached English in the early 1800s, partly through modern Latin phasis and partly through French phase, and the spelling settled on the simple 'phase' with its silent Greek-derived 'ph' standing in for an f sound. From the lunar idea of a recurring stage, the meaning broadened to any distinct stage in a sequence of events, and later to a verb meaning to bring something about in stages. The 'ph' spelling is the main trap, since the word sounds exactly like 'faze' (to unsettle), with which it shares no root at all; the same phainein family also gives us 'phenomenon' and 'emphasis'.

How the word is built

• phas- (from Greek phasis: appearance, from phainein 'to show')
• -e