Standard Lemma guide

physics

noun · verb · 6 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.

  • /ˈfɪz.ɪks/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: F IH1 Z IH0 K S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The branch of science concerned with the study of the properties and interactions of space, time, matter and energy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • 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.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The physical aspects of a phenomenon or a system, especially those examined or studied scientifically.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • The physics of car crashes would not let Tom Cruise walk away like that.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

plural of physic

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, plural

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

verb

Meaning 4

third-person singular simple present indicative of physic

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, indicative, present, singular, third-person

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

the science of matter and energy and their interactions

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • his favorite subject was physics

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: natural philosophy

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: natural science

Narrower terms: astronomy, uranology, aeronautics, astronautics, biophysics, cryogenics, cryogeny, crystallography, electromagnetism, electromagnetics, electronics, electrostatics, mechanics, nuclear physics, atomic physics, nucleonics, optics, particle physics, high-energy physics, high energy physics, plasma physics, quantum physics, rheology, solid-state physics, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics

6

noun

Meaning 6

the physical properties, phenomena, and laws of something

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he studied the physics of radiation

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: physical science

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: natural science

Narrower terms: acoustics

History

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”).

Across languages

Translations

119 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: fisika — branch of science
  • Albanian: fizikë — branch of science
  • Amharic: ፊዚክስ (fiziks) — branch of science
  • Arabic: فِيزِيَاء (fīziyāʔ) — branch of science
  • Arabic: فِيزِيقَا (fīzīqā) — branch of science
  • Arabic: فيزيا (fezya) — branch of science
  • Arabic: فيزيا (fīzya) — branch of science
  • Armenian: ֆիզիկա (fizika) — branch of science
  • Asturian: física — branch of science
  • Azerbaijani: fizika — branch of science
  • Basque: fisika — branch of science
  • Belarusian: фі́зіка (fízika) — branch of science
  • Bengali: পদার্থবিজ্ঞান (podarthobiggên) — branch of science
  • Bengali: পদার্থবিদ্যা (podarthobidda) — branch of science
  • Breton: naturoniezh — branch of science
  • Bulgarian: фи́зика (fízika) — branch of science
  • Burmese: ရူပဗေဒ (rupa.beda.) — branch of science
  • Carpathian Rusyn: фі́зіка (fízika) — branch of science
  • Catalan: física — branch of science
  • Chinese Cantonese: 物理學 /物理学 (mat6 lei5 hok6) — branch of science
  • Hakka Chinese: 物理學 /物理学 (vu̍t-lî-ho̍k) — branch of science
  • Chinese: 物理學 /物理学 (bu̍t-lí-ha̍k) — branch of science
  • Chinese Mandarin: 物理學 /物理学 (wùlǐxué) — branch of science
  • Czech: fyzika — branch of science
  • Danish: fysik — branch of science
  • Dhivehi: ފީޒިޔާއީ އިލްމު (fīziyāī ilmu) — branch of science
  • Dutch: natuurkunde — branch of science
  • Dutch: fysica — branch of science
  • Dzongkha: དངོས་ཁམས་རིག་པ (dngos khams rig pa) — branch of science
  • Esperanto: fiziko — branch of science
  • Estonian: füüsika — branch of science
  • Faroese: alisfrøði — branch of science
  • Finnish: fysiikka — branch of science
  • French: physique — branch of science
  • Galician: física — branch of science
  • Georgian: ფიზიკა (piziḳa) — branch of science
  • German: Physik — branch of science
  • Greek: φυσική (fysikí) — branch of science
  • Gujarati: ભૌતિકવિજ્ઞાન (bhautikvijñān) — branch of science
  • Gujarati: ફિઝીક્સ (phijhīks) — branch of science
  • Haitian Creole: fizik — branch of science
  • Hebrew: פִֿיזִיקָה (fizika) — branch of science
  • Hindi: भौतिक शास्त्र (bhautik śāstra) — branch of science
  • Hindi: भौतिकी (bhautikī) — branch of science
  • Hungarian: fizika — branch of science
  • Icelandic: eðlisfræði — branch of science
  • Ido: fiziko — branch of science
  • Indonesian: fisika — branch of science
  • Interlingua: physica — branch of science
  • Irish: fisic — branch of science
  • Italian: fisica — branch of science
  • Japanese: 物理学 (butsurigaku) — branch of science
  • Kannada: ಭೌತಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ (bhautaśāstra) — branch of science
  • Kazakh: физика (fizika) — branch of science
  • Khmer: រូបសាស្ត្រ (ruuppaʼsaah) — branch of science
  • Khmer: រូបវិទ្យា (ruuppaʼvityiə) — branch of science
  • Korean: 물리학 (mullihak) — branch of science
  • Korean: 물리 (mulli) — branch of science
  • Central Kurdish: فیزیا (fîzya) — branch of science
  • Central Kurdish: فیزیک (fîzîk) — branch of science
  • Kyrgyz: физика (fizika) — branch of science
  • Lao: ວັດຖຸວິທະຍາ (wat thu wi tha nyā) — branch of science
  • Lao: ວັດຖຸສາດ (wat thu sāt) — branch of science
  • Lao: ຟີຊິກ (fī sik) — branch of science
  • Latin: physica — branch of science
  • Latvian: fizika — branch of science
  • Lithuanian: fizika — branch of science
  • Macedonian: физика (fizika) — branch of science
  • Malay: fizik — branch of science
  • Maltese: fiżika — branch of science
  • Manx: fishag — branch of science
  • Māori: mātai ahupūngao — branch of science
  • Marathi: भौतिकशास्त्र (bhautikśāstra) — branch of science
  • Mongolian: физик (fizik) — branch of science
  • Nepali: भौतिक शास्त्र (bhautik śāstra) — branch of science
  • Norwegian Bokmål: fysikk — branch of science
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: fysikk — branch of science
  • Occitan: fisica — branch of science
  • Pashto: فزيک (fezík) — branch of science
  • Persian: فیزیک (fizik) — branch of science
  • Pitcairn-Norfolk: fisiks — branch of science
  • Polish: fizyka — branch of science
  • Portuguese: física — branch of science
  • Punjabi: ਭੌਤਿਕ ਵਿਗਿਆਨ (bhautik vigiāna) — branch of science
  • Romanian: fizică — branch of science
  • Russian: фи́зика (fízika) — branch of science
  • Scots: pheesics — branch of science
  • Serbo-Croatian: физика — branch of science
  • Serbo-Croatian: fizika — branch of science
  • Shan: ပၢႆးႁၢင်ႈ (páai hāang) — branch of science
  • Sicilian: fìsica — branch of science
  • Sinhalese: භෞතික විද්යාව (bhautika widyāwa) — branch of science
  • Slovak: fyzika — branch of science
  • Slovene: fizika — branch of science
  • Lower Sorbian: fyzika — branch of science
  • Spanish: física — branch of science
  • Swahili: fizikia — branch of science
  • Swedish: fysik — branch of science
  • Tagalog: pisika — branch of science
  • Tagalog: liknayan — branch of science
  • Tagalog: sugnayan — branch of science
  • Tajik: физика (fizika) — branch of science
  • Tamil: இயற்பியல் (iyaṟpiyal) — branch of science
  • Tamil: பௌதிகம் (pautikam) — branch of science
  • Thai: ฟิสิกส์ (fí-sìk) — branch of science
  • Tibetan: དངོས་ཁམས་རིག་པ (dngos khams rig pa) — branch of science
  • Tsonga: Physical science — branch of science
  • Turkish: fizik — branch of science
  • Turkish: doğam (doğa kuramı) — branch of science
  • Turkmen: fizika — branch of science
  • Ukrainian: фі́зика (fízyka) — branch of science
  • Urdu: طبیعیات (tabī'iyyāt) — branch of science
  • Uyghur: فىزىكا (fizika) — branch of science
  • Uzbek: fizika — branch of science
  • Vietnamese: vật lý học — branch of science
  • Võro: füüsiga — branch of science
  • Walloon: fizike — branch of science
  • Welsh: ffiseg — branch of science
  • Yiddish: פֿיזיק (fizik) — branch of science
Real reading context

physics in complete knowledge articles