Physics

How to spell physics

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce physics

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does physics mean?

1. nounThe branch of science concerned with matter, energy, force, and motion.

Physics in a sentence

• She studied physics at university before becoming an engineer.

• The laws of physics govern how the bridge bears its load.

Where does physics come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word descends from the Greek physis, meaning 'nature' or 'the natural order of things', which gave rise to physika, the title of Aristotle's writings on the natural world. Latin took this up as physica, the study of nature, and it passed into English through Old French and Latin during the late Middle Ages. Originally 'physic' in English referred broadly to natural science and even to the practice of medicine, which is why a doctor was once called a 'physician'. The modern, narrower sense, the science of matter, energy, force, and motion, settled in around the seventeenth century, and the plural-looking -s ending (modelled on Greek titles) is exactly why writers must remember it takes a single, abstract subject. The same physis root still hides inside everyday relatives such as 'physical' and 'physique'.

How the word is built

• physic (from Greek physis: nature)
• -s (plural-form noun ending naming a field of study)