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Definition: Physiognomy |
PhysiognomyNoun1. The human face (`kisser' and `smiler' and `mug' are informal terms for `face'; `phiz' is British). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "physiognomy" was first used: sometime in the late 14th century. (references) |
Etymology: Physiognomy \Phys`i*og"no*my\, noun; plural Physiognomies. [from Old English expression fisonomie, phisonomie, fisnamie, Old French phisonomie, French physiognomie, physiognomonie, from the Greek expression fy`sis nature one who knows or examines, judge, from to know. See Physic, and Know, and compare to Phiz.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Satire | PHYSIOGNOMY, n. The art of determining the character of another by the resemblances and differences between his face and our own, which is the standard of excellence. "There is no art," says Shakespeare, foolish man, "To read the mind's construction in the face." The physiognomists his portrait scan, And say: "How little wisdom here we trace! He knew his face disclosed his mind and heart, So, in his own defence, denied our art." Lavatar Shunk. Source: Devil's Dictionary. |
Avian | The topography and other physical characteristics of a landform and its vegetation (Brown and Gibson 1983:568). (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Browne was in turn influenced by the writings of the Italian Giovanni Della Porta. Della Porta's work Of Celestial Physiognomy argued that it was not the stars but the temperament which influences both man's facial appearance and character. In his pseudo-Aristoelian work De humana physiognomia (1586) Porta used woodcuts of animals to illustrate human characteristics. Porta's works are well-represented in Sir Thomas Browne's library for, like Porta before him, Browne subscribed to the belief in the doctrine of signatures, the belief that the physical structures of nature, for example, a plant's roots, stem and flower, were indicative keys or signatures to their medical potential.
The popularity of physiognomy grew throughout the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth century. It influenced the descriptive abilities of many European novelists, notably Balzac whilst the, 'Norwich connection' to physiognomy may be discerned in the writings of Amelia Opie and George Borrow, besides a host of other nineteenth century English authors, notably descriptive passages of characters in the novels of Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Physiognomy."
Synonyms: PhysiognomySynonyms: countenance (n), kisser (n), mug (n), phiz (n), smiler (n), visage (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Front | Brow, forehead, visage, physiognomy, phiz, countenance, mut; rostrum, beak, bow, stem, prow, prore, jib. |
Interpretation | Symptomatology, semiology, semeiology, semiotics; metoposcopy, physiognomy; paleography; (philology); oneirology |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Physiognomy |
| English words defined with "physiognomy": Metopomancy, Metoposcopy ♦ Ophthalmoscopy ♦ Physiognomical, Physiognomies, Physiognomist, Physiognomize. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "physiognomy": BLUSH ♦ Landscape physiognomy ♦ Physiognomy, PHYSOG ♦ Red Men. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "physiognomy": Phiz, Physiognomize ♦ Visnomy. (references) |
| Domain | Title | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | The Physiognomy, plate 6:... / S. Washburn.Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | The physiognomy of the years makes up the face of the century. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Physiognomy" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Physiognomy" is used about 22 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 22 | 74,468 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "physiognomy": Chinese physiognomy. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
physiognomy | 44 |
character physiognomy | 8 |
digital physiognomy | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "physiognomy"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | pamje (air, aspect, face, landscape, likeness, look, make, mien, mode, outlook, outside, presence, prospect, rig, scene, scenery, semblance, shape, sight, spectacle, view, visage, vista), tipare, fytyrë (countenance, face, front, name, Phiz, visage), fizionomi. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | ملامح الوجه (cast, identikit), مظهر خارجي (appearance, color, colour, face, front, likeness, outside, semblance, show), علم الفراسة, صفة باطنية. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | характерна черта (characteristic, impress, lineament, note, particularity, point, quality, speciality, trait), характерна особеност (note), черти на лицето (countenance, features, lineament), физиогномоника, физиогномия, физиономия (face), отличителна черта (lineament, point, speciality, trait), лице (appearance, bod, countenance, face, features, figurehead, front, front view, frontage, individual, kisser, map, person, persona, personage, puss, sentry, visage). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | výraz tváře, tvářnost (complexion), fyziognomie. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | gelaatstrekken. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | fizionomio. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | fysiognomia. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | physionomie. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Physiognomie. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | φυσιογνωμία (countenance). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | קלסתר פנים (countenance, mien, visage), קלסתר (brightness), פנים (appearance, countenance, expression, face, front, outside, surface, visage), ארשת (expression). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | arckifejezés (air, brow, cast of features, complexion, countenance, expression, facial aspect, facial expression, frown, look, mien). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | fisionomia. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 観相学 (phrenology), 観相 , 人相学 , 人相 (countenance, looks). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | にんそうがく, にんそう (countenance, looks), かんそうがく (phrenology), かんそう (arid, contemplation, dehydrated, dry, dry grass, hay, hearty send-off, impressions, insipid, meditation, running the race, staying the course, thoughts). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | eddin-oaylleeaght, eddin-fysseraght. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ysiognomyphay fisionomista, fisionomia (countenance, expression, physiographer, visage). (various references) moacã (index, mug, Phiz), fizionomie (aspect, countenance, feature, look, mien, Phiz), aspect (appearance, aspect, cast, character, complexion, conformation, facet, figure, form, guise, look, person, phase, shape, similitude), înfãţişare (air, appearance, aspect, behavior, behaviour, cast, countenance, dash, description, face, figuration, figure, form, get, guise, hearing, lay, likeness, look, manner, mien, patina, presentation, representation, semblance, shape, similitude). (various references) рожа (clock, erysipelas), физиогномика, физиономия (phiz), облик (guise, image). (various references) fiziognomija. (various references) fisonomía (face, set of features), fisionomía. (various references) fysionomi. (various references) yüz ifadesi (countenance, expression, face, look, the cut of one's jib), yüz (c, cast of features, countenance, dial, face, facial, front, frontispiece, hecto-, hundred, kisser, mien, obverse, one hundred, Phiz, puss, Snoot, visage), çehre (aspect, face, lineas, visage). (various references) фізіогноміка, фізіономія, пика (clock, muzzle). (various references) thuật xem tướng gương mặt, nét mặt (look, phiz, visage). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Greek | 700 BCE-300 CE | physiognomia. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Physiognomy" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: phsiognomy, physiognamy, physiognony, physiogomy, physiogonomy. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "physiognomy" (pronounced 'Phys`i*og"no*my'): Academy, Adenotomy, Adesmy, Adynamy, Agronomy, Alchemy, Allogamy, Anatomy, Andranatomy, Androtomy, Angiotomy, Anomy, Antinomy, Aplotomy, Apogamy, Aponeurotomy, Archenemy, Army, Arrhytmy, Arteriotomy, Astronomy, Atimy, Autogamy, Autonomy, Belamy, BIGAMY, Bionomy, Blasphemy, Blosmy, Bronchotomy, Capsulotomy, Celotomy, Cephalotomy, Chalazogamy, Chasmy, Chirognomy, Chironomy, Cholecystotomy, Chondrotomy, Cirsotomy, Clammy, Cleronomy, Coenogamy, Colotomy, Craniognomy, Craniotomy, Crummy, Cystotomy, Dactylonomy, Dysnomy. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "g-h-i-m-n-o-o-p-s-y-y" | |
-3 letters: misogyny, pygmyish, symphony. | |
-4 letters: gnomish, gonophs, hooping, hypoing, isogony, isonomy, moonish, moshing, nymphos, poohing, shooing. | |
-5 letters: gipons, gonoph, goyish, homing, hominy, hoping, hosing, hyping, isogon, mongos, monish, mooing, moping, mopish, myosin, nympho, nymphs, oohing, oomphs, phonos, pingos, poison, posing, shying, simony, simoon, siphon, snoopy, spongy, spoony, spying, syphon, yogins. | |
| Words containing the letters "g-h-i-m-n-o-o-p-s-y-y" | |
+5 letters: chymotrypsinogen, physiognomically. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)50 68 79 73 69 6F 67 6E 6F 6D 79 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).--. .... -.--. ... .. --- --. -. --- -- -.--. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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| Amazon.com BOOKS: Search for: "physiognomy" |
