# physics

Wikiversity

## English
### Alternative forms

* physicks (obsolete)

### Etymology

1580s; from physic (see also -ics), from Middle English phisik, from Old French fisike (“natural science, art of healing”), from Latin physica (“study of nature”), from Ancient Greek φυσική (phusikḗ), feminine singular of φυσικός (phusikós, “natural; physical”), from Ancient Greek φύσις (phúsis, “origin; nature, property”), from Ancient Greek φύω (phúō, “produce; bear; grow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to appear, become, rise up”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈfɪz.ɪks/
* Audio (US):(file)

### Noun

physics (uncountable)
* The branch of science concerned with the study of the properties and interactions of space, time, matter and energy.
    Newtonian physics was extended by Einstein to explain the effects of travelling near the speed of light; quantum physics extends 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, 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 of physics attract most popular attention.
** 2012 March, Jeremy Bernstein, “A Palette of Particles”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, page 146:The physics of elementary particles in the 20th century was distinguished by the observation of particles whose existence had been predicted by theorists sometimes decades earlier.
* The physical aspects of a phenomenon or a system, especially those examined or studied scientifically.
    The physics of 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, 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 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 also Thesaurus: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
### Noun

physics
* plural of physic

### Verb

physics
* third-person singular simple present indicative of physic

### Further reading

* “physics”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “physics”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* “physics”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.