Etymologically
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physical

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈfɪz.ɪ.kəl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English phisicale (“medical”),[2][3] borrowed from Medieval Latin physicālis (“of nature, natural; medicinal”),[4][2] from Latin physica (“the study of nature”),[4][2] from Greek Ancient Greek φυσική (phusikḗ), from φύσις (phúsis, “nature”), the source of physic.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Medical”, as distinguished from surgical: probably before 1425, in a translation of Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie,[2] the early 15th century;[4] this sense is now obsolete.[5]

Semantic evolution

The meaning “relating to natural science, according to the laws of nature” is from 1580,[2][6] and “pertaining to matter, material”, perceived by the senses, from 1597, in Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity.[2][6][4] Johnson (1755) defined it as “relating to nature or to natural philosophy; not moral”.[7] The sense “having to do with the body, bodily”, as opposed to mental or moral, is first attested in 1780, in Bentham.[2][4][6] “Bodily aggressive or violent”, as in the game got physical, is from 1970.[4][6] Physical education is recorded from 1838 and phys ed by 1955,[4][2] and physical therapy from 1922.[2][4] The noun, short for physical examination, is from 1934.[4][6]

Timeline

  • before 1425 – medical.[2]
  • 1580 – of natural science.[2][6]
  • 1597 – material.[2][6]
  • 1780 – bodily.[2][6]
  • 1838 – physical education.[4][2]
  • 1922 – physical therapy.[2]
  • 1934 – noun, a medical examination.[4][6]
  • 1970 – bodily aggressive.[4][6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Of the body rather than the mind or spirit.
  2. Involving vigorous bodily activity or contact; rough or violent.
  3. Of material things; that can be seen or touched.
  4. Of matter and energy, or of physics and the other natural sciences.
  5. (informal) Sexual: physical attraction.

Noun

  1. A medical examination to check a person's health.

Word family

  • physicality
  • physically
  • physicalness
  • metaphysical
  • physician
  • physics
  • physic
  • physique
  • physiology

Usage notes

In older Scots physical meant “medical, of drugs”.[8]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)