physics

Wikiversity

English

Alternative forms

• physicks(obsolete)

Etymology

1580s; fromphysic(see also-ics), fromMiddle Englishphisik,fromOld Frenchfisike(“natural science, art of healing”),fromLatinphysica(“study of nature”),fromAncient Greekφυσική(phusikḗ),feminine singular ofφυσικός(phusikós,“natural; physical”),fromAncient Greekφύσις(phúsis,“origin; nature, property”),fromAncient Greekφύω(phúō,“produce; bear; grow”),ultimately fromProto-Indo-European*bʰuH-(“to appear, become, rise up”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/ˈfɪz.ɪks/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

Noun

physics(uncountable)

2. The branch ofscienceconcerned with the study of the properties andinteractionsofspace,time,matterandenergy.

   Newtonianphysicswas extended by Einstein to explain the effects of travelling near the speed of light; quantumphysicsextends it to account for the behaviour of atoms.

   • 1994,A.J Meadows, M.M Hancock-Beaulieu, editors,Front Page Physics: A Century of Physics in the News‎^[1],page 3:

     An analysis of media reports can correspondingly cast some light not only on how much physics is being reported, but on what branches ofphysicsattract most popular attention.

   • 2012March,Jeremy Bernstein,“A Palette of Particles”, inAmerican Scientist‎^[2],volume100,number 2, page146:

     Thephysicsof elementary particles in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier.

3. Thephysicalaspects of a phenomenon or a system, especially those examined or studied scientifically.

   Thephysicsof car crashes would not let Tom Cruise walk away like that.

   • 1994,A.J Meadows, M.M Hancock-Beaulieu, editors,Front Page Physics: A Century of Physics in the News‎^[3],page 3:

     An analysis of media reports can correspondingly cast some light not only on how muchphysicsis being reported, but on what branches of physics attract most popular attention.

Antonyms

• nonphysics

Hyponyms

• aerophysics
• astrophysics
• attophysics
• biophysics
• cartoon physics
• chemical physics
• classical physics
• econophysics
• ecophysics
• gastrophysics
• geophysics
• heliophysics
• hyperphysics
• macrophysics
• metaphysics
• microphysics
• modern physics
• neurophysics
• nuclear physics
• optics
• particle physics
• petrophysics
• photophysics
• physical chemistry
• plasmaphysics
• psychophysics
• quantum physics
• radiation physics
• radiobiophysics
• radiophysics
• soil physics
• spacetime physics
• tectonophysics
• theoretical physics
• thermodynamics

Meronyms

• See alsoThesaurus:physics

Derived terms

• atomic physics
• atom physics
• conceptual physics
• condensed matter physics
• health physics
• jiggle physics
• metametaphysics
• metaphysics
• pataphysics
• physics envy
• physics gun
• physics-ly
• physics package
• ragdoll physics
• social physics
• sociophysics

Related terms

• physical
• physicist

Descendants

• →Welsh:ffiseg

Translations

branch of science

• Afrikaans:fisika(af)
• Albanian:fizikë(sq)f
• Amharic:ፊዚክስ(fiziks)
• Arabic:فِيزِيَاء(ar)f(fīziyāʔ),فِيزِيقَا(ar)f(fīzīqā)

  Egyptian Arabic:فيزياf(fezya)

  Hijazi Arabic:فيزياf(fīzya)

• Armenian:ֆիզիկա(hy)(fizika)
• Asturian:físicaf
• Azerbaijani:fizika(az)
• Basque:fisika(eu)
• Belarusian:фі́зіка(be)f(fízika)
• Bengali:পদার্থবিজ্ঞান(bn)(podarthobiggên),পদার্থবিদ্যা(bn)(podarthobidda)
• Breton:naturoniezh(br)f
• Bulgarian:фи́зика(bg)f(fízika)
• Burmese:ရူပဗေဒ(my)(rupa.beda.)
• Carpathian Rusyn:фі́зікаf(fízika)
• Catalan:física(ca)f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese:Vật lý học／Vật lý học(mat⁶lei⁵hok⁶)

  Hakka:Vật lý học／Vật lý học(vu̍t-lî-ho̍k)

  Hokkien:Vật lý học／Vật lý học(bu̍t-lí-ha̍k)

  Mandarin:Vật lý học／Vật lý học(zh)(wùlǐxué)

• Czech:fyzika(cs)f
• Danish:fysik(da)c
• Dhivehi:ފީޒިޔާއީ އިލްމު(fīziyāī ilmu)
• Dutch:natuurkunde(nl)f,fysica(nl)f
• Dzongkha:དངོས་ཁམས་རིག་པ(dngos khams rig pa)
• Esperanto:fiziko(eo)
• Estonian:füüsika(et)
• Faroese:alisfrøði(fo)f
• Finnish:fysiikka(fi)
• French:physique(fr)f
• Galician:física(gl)f
• Georgian:ფიზიკა(piziḳa)
• German:Physik(de)f
• Greek:φυσική(el)f(fysikí)
• Gujarati:ભૌતિકવિજ્ઞાન(bhautikvijñān),ફિઝીક્સ(phijhīks)
• Haitian Creole:fizik
• Hebrew:פִֿיזִיקָה(he)f(fizika)
• Hindi:भौतिक शास्त्रm(bhautik śāstra),भौतिकीf(bhautikī)
• Hungarian:fizika(hu)
• Icelandic:eðlisfræði(is)f
• Ido:fiziko(io)
• Indonesian:fisika(id)
• Interlingua:physica(ia)f
• Irish:fisicf
• Italian:fisica(it)f
• Japanese:Vật lý học(ja)(ぶつりがく, butsurigaku)
• Kannada:ಭೌತಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ(kn)(bhautaśāstra)
• Kazakh:физика(kk)(fizika)
• Khmer:រូបសាស្ត្រ(ruuppaʼsaah),រូបវិទ្យា(ruuppaʼvityiə)
• Korean:물리학( vật lý học )(ko)(mullihak),물리( vật lý )(ko)(mulli)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish:فیزیا(ckb)(fîzya),فیزیک(ckb)(fîzîk)

• Kyrgyz:физика(ky)(fizika)
• Lao:ວັດຖຸວິທະຍາ(wat thu wi tha nyā),ວັດຖຸສາດ(lo)(wat thu sāt),ຟີຊິກ(fī sik)
• Latin:physicaf
• Latvian:fizikaf
• Lithuanian:fizika(lt)f
• Macedonian:физика(mk)f(fizika)
• Malay:fizik(ms)
• Maltese:fiżikaf
• Manx:fishag
• Maori:mātai ahupūngao
• Marathi:भौतिकशास्त्रn(bhautikśāstra)
• Mongolian:физик(mn)(fizik)
• Nepali:भौतिक शास्त्र(bhautik śāstra)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:fysikk(no)m

  Nynorsk:fysikkm

• Occitan:fisica(oc)f
• Pashto:فزيک(ps)m(fezík)
• Persian:فیزیک(fa)(fizik)
• Pitcairn-Norfolk:fisiks
• Polish:fizyka(pl)f
• Portuguese:física(pt)f
• Punjabi:ਭੌਤਿਕ ਵਿਗਿਆਨm(bhautik vigiāna)
• Romanian:fizică(ro)f
• Russian:фи́зика(ru)f(fízika)
• Scots:pheesics
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:физикаf

  Roman:fizika(sh)f

• Shan:ပၢႆးႁၢင်ႈ(páai hāang)
• Sicilian:fìsica(scn)f
• Sinhalese:භෞතික විද්‍යාව(bhautika widyāwa)
• Slovak:fyzika(sk)f
• Slovene:fizika(sl)f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian:fyzikaf

• Spanish:física(es)f
• Swahili:fizikia(sw)
• Swedish:fysik(sv)c
• Tagalog:pisika,liknayan(tl),sugnayan
• Tajik:физика(tg)(fizika)
• Tamil:பெளதிகம்(peḷatikam)
• Thai:ฟิสิกส์(th)(fí-sìk)
• Tibetan:དངོས་ཁམས་རིག་པ(dngos khams rig pa)
• Tsonga:Physical science
• Turkish:fizik(tr),doğam(doğa kuramı)
• Turkmen:fizika
• Ukrainian:фі́зика(uk)f(fízyka)
• Urdu:طبیعیاتf(tabī'iyyāt)
• Uyghur:فىزىكا(fizika)
• Uzbek:fizika(uz)
• Vietnamese:vật lý học(vi)(Vật lý học)
• Võro:füüsiga
• Walloon:fizike(wa)f
• Welsh:ffiseg(cy)f
• Yiddish:פֿיזיקf(fizik)

Noun

physics

1. pluralofphysic

Verb

physics

1. third-personsingularsimplepresentindicativeofphysic

Further reading

• “physics”,inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary,Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
• “physics”,inThe Century Dictionary[…],New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,1911,→OCLC.
• “physics”,inOneLook Dictionary Search.