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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargphiz
PRONUNCIATION:
(fiz) 
MEANING:
noun: Face; facial expression.
ETYMOLOGY:
A shortening/respelling of physiognomy (face, expression), via French and Latin from physiognomonia. Ultimately from the Indo-European root gno- (to know), which also gave us know, can, notorious, notice, connoisseur, recognize, diagnosis, ignore, annotate, noble, narrate, anagnorisis (the moment of recognition), gnomon (the raised arm of a sundial), gnomic (puzzling), and agnostic. Earliest documented use: 1687.
USAGE:
“Elvira, no great beauty, did possess a somewhat long and equine phiz -- although it was cruel of Luperini to mention it.”
Paul Di Filippo; Monarch of the Feast; Analog Science Fiction & Fact (New York); Jul/Aug 2019.
See more usage examples of phiz in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.
Paul Di Filippo; Monarch of the Feast; Analog Science Fiction & Fact (New York); Jul/Aug 2019.
See more usage examples of phiz in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Civilizations in decline are consistently characterised by a tendency towards standardization and uniformity. -Arnold Toynbee, historian (14 Apr 1889-1975)
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