physicality

Etymology

It is formed from English physical + -ity.^[2][3][4][5] Physical is from Medieval Latin physicālis (“of nature, natural; medical”), from physica (“the study of nature”),^[3][2] the source of physic and physics.^[3] The synonym physicalness is recorded from 1727.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Medicine or medical practice, also a mock title for a physician: 1592, in Thomas Nashe's Strange Newes; this sense was rare and died out after 1660.^[2] Etymonline glosses the 1590s word as "physical condition",^[3] and Dictionary.com dates it to 1585–95.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word followed the senses of physical, which first meant "medical" and later "of matter" and "of the body".^[3][2] From 1827 physicality meant the state of being physical as opposed to mental or spiritual,^[2] and since 1844 it has also meant the awareness of the body or of bodily sensation;^[2] Etymonline finds this sense by 1849.^[3] The OED's sense also takes in the quality of being physically demanding, and physical intensity.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates to 1893 its main sense, a predominance of the physical over the mental, spiritual or social, a preoccupation with the body.^[6]

Timeline

• 1592 – medicine, medical practice; a mock title for a physician (obsolete by 1660).^[2]
• 1827 – the state of being physical as opposed to mental or spiritual.^[2]
• 1844 – awareness of the body or of bodily sensation.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1849.^[3]
• 1893 – a predominance of the physical, a preoccupation with the body.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state or quality of being physical rather than mental or spiritual.^[7][2]
2. A strong concern with the body, the physical outweighing the mental, spiritual or social; physical intensity: The dancers' sheer physicality filled the stage.^[6][2]
3. The physical features or attributes of a person or thing.^[7][8]

Related words

• physical
• physic
• physics
• physicalness

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster