physics

Origin:
1250–1300; (noun) Middle English fisyk(e), phisik(e) (< Old French fisique) < Latin physica natural science (Medieval Latin: medical science) < Greek physikḗ science of nature, noun use of feminine adj.: pertaining to nature (akin to phŷlon tribe, phylon); (v.) Middle English, derivative of the noun

Can be confused: physic, physique.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To physics

00:10

Physics is always a great word to know.

So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

physic (ˈfɪzɪk)

—n
1.	rare a medicine or drug, esp a cathartic or purge
2.	archaic the art or skill of healing
3.	an archaic term for physics

—vb , -ics, -icking, -icked
4.	archaic (tr) to treat (a patient) with medicine

[C13: from Old French fisique, via Latin, from Greek phusikē, from phusis nature]

'physicky

—*adj*

physics (ˈfɪzɪks)

—n
1.	the branch of science concerned with the properties of matter and energy and the relationships between them. It is based on mathematics and traditionally includes mechanics, optics, electricity and magnetism, acoustics, and heat. Modern physics, based on quantum theory, includes atomic, nuclear, particle, and solid-state studies. It can also embrace applied fields such as geophysics and meteorology
2.	physical properties of behaviour: the physics of the electron
3.	archaic natural science or natural philosophy

[C16: from Latin physica, translation of Greek ta phusika natural things, from phusis nature]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

physic

c.1300, "art of healing, medical science," also "natural science" (c.1300), from O.Fr. fisike "natural science, art of healing" (12c.), from L. physica (fem. sing.) "study of nature," from Gk. physike episteme "knowledge of nature," from fem. of physikos "pertaining to nature," from physis "nature,"

from phyein "to bring forth, produce, make to grow" (cf. phyton "growth, plant," phyle "tribe, race," phyma "a growth, tumor") from PIE base *bheu- "to be exist, grow" (cf. O.E. beon "to be," see be). Especially in Gk. ta physika, lit. "the natural things," name of Aristotle's treatise on nature. The verb meaning "to dose with medicine" is attested from late 14c.

physics

1580s, "natural science," from physic in sense of "natural science." Also see -ics. Specific sense of "science treating of properties of matter and energy" is from 1715. Physicist coined 1840 by the Rev. William Whewell (17941866), Eng. polymath,

to denote a "cultivator of physics" as opposed to a physician.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

physic phys·ic (fĭz'ĭk)
n.
A medicine or drug, especially a cathartic.

physics phys·ics (fĭz'ĭks)
n.

Abbr. phys. The science of matter and energy and of interactions between the two, grouped in traditional fields such as acoustics, optics, mechanics, thermodynamics, and electromagnetism, as well as in modern extensions including atomic and nuclear physics, cryogenics, solid-state physics, particle physics, and plasma physics.
Physical properties, interactions, processes, or laws.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage

Science Dictionary

physics

(fĭz'ĭks) Pronunciation Key

The scientific study of matter, energy, space, and time, and of the relations between them.
The behavior of a given physical system, especially as understood by a physical theory.

American Heritage

Cultural Dictionary

physics definition

The scientific study of matter and motion. (See mechanics, optics, quantum mechanics, relativity, and thermodynamics.)

Example sentences

To do so, they have gone back to their high-school physics lessons.

There can be only one top-dog collider in physics, one ring-shaped machine to

rule them all.

And when that happens, the laws of physics simply don't apply.

And inquiries into nature have the best result, when they begin with physics

and end in mathematics.

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decay differential diffuse harmonic high-energy physics isomerism

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"The fundamental laws of physics do not describe true facts about reality. Rendered as descriptions of facts, they are false; amended to be true, they lose their explanatory force."

-Nancy Cartwright