Physique

How to spell physique

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce physique

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does physique mean?

1. nounThe form, size, and muscular development of a person's body.

Physique in a sentence

• Years of swimming gave him a lean, athletic physique.

• The personal trainer assessed her physique before designing a programme.

Where does physique come from?

Language of origin: French

This word came into English from French in the early 1800s, where physique meant the bodily constitution or the body considered as a whole. The French term traces back through Latin physica to the Greek phusis, which literally meant 'nature' or 'growth', from the verb phuein, 'to bring forth' or 'to grow'. The same Greek root sits inside everyday words such as 'physics' and 'physical', all of them dealing with the natural, material world. English borrowed the French spelling intact, which is why the word keeps its very un-English ending in -que and the soft sound that makes it look like it should rhyme with 'antique'. That preserved French form is the spelling trap: writers reach for a phonetic '-eek' or '-ick' ending and forget the silent French -que.

How the word is built

• physi- (from Greek phusis: nature, the body)
• -que (French ending)