Standard Lemma guide

geophysics

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˌdʒiː.əʊˈfɪz.ɪks/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A branch of earth science dealing with the physical processes and phenomena occurring in the earth and in its vicinity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

geology that uses physical principles to study properties of the earth

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: geophysical science

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: geology

Narrower terms: morphology, geomorphology, hydrology, seismology, volcanology, vulcanology, magnetism, magnetics, geodesy

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Pre-Greek der. Proto-Hellenic *gayader. Ancient Greek γαῖᾰ (gaîă)clip. Ancient Greek γῆ (gê) Ancient Greek -ο- (-o-) Ancient Greek γεω- (geō-)der. English geo- Proto-Indo-European *bhuH- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *bhuHyéti Ancient Greek φῠ́ω (phŭ́ō) Proto-Indo-European *-tis Ancient Greek -τις (-tis) Ancient Greek -σῐς (-sĭs) Ancient Greek φύσις (phúsis) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ικός (-ikós) Ancient Greek φυσικός (phusikós)der. Latin physicusder. Middle English phisik English physic English physics English geophysics From geo- + physics.

Across languages

Translations

33 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: геофизика (geofizika) — branch of earth science
  • Burmese: ဘူမိရူပဗေဒ (bhumi.rupa.beda.) — branch of earth science
  • Catalan: geofísica — branch of earth science
  • Chinese Mandarin: 地球物理學 /地球物理学 (dìqiúwùlǐxué) — branch of earth science
  • Chinese Mandarin: 地球物理 (dìqiú wùlǐ) — branch of earth science
  • Czech: geofyzika — branch of earth science
  • Danish: geofysik — branch of earth science
  • Dutch: geofysica — branch of earth science
  • Finnish: geofysiikka — branch of earth science
  • French: géophysique — branch of earth science
  • Galician: xeofísica — branch of earth science
  • German: Geophysik — branch of earth science
  • Hindi: भूभौतिकी (bhūbhautikī) — branch of earth science
  • Hungarian: geofizika — branch of earth science
  • Ido: geofiziko — branch of earth science
  • Indonesian: geofisika — branch of earth science
  • Irish: geoifisic — branch of earth science
  • Italian: geofisica — branch of earth science
  • Japanese: 地球物理学 (chikyū butsurigaku) — branch of earth science
  • Korean: 지구물리학 (jigumullihak) — branch of earth science
  • Latvian: ģeofizika — branch of earth science
  • Norwegian Bokmål: geofysikk — branch of earth science
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: geofysikk — branch of earth science
  • Polish: geofizyka — branch of earth science
  • Portuguese: geofísica — branch of earth science
  • Romanian: geofizică — branch of earth science
  • Russian: геофи́зика (geofízika) — branch of earth science
  • Spanish: geofísica — branch of earth science
  • Swedish: geofysik — branch of earth science
  • Tagalog: duliknayan — branch of earth science
  • Tagalog: dutaliknayan — branch of earth science
  • Turkish: jeofizik — branch of earth science
  • Ukrainian: геофізика (heofizyka) — branch of earth science
Real reading context

geophysics in complete knowledge articles