physiognomy

Definition

The art or pseudoscience of deducing the predominant temper and other characteristic qualities of the mind from the outward appearance, especially from the features of the face.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English phisonomie, from Anglo-Norman phisenomie, Middle French phisonomie et al., ultimately from Late Latin physiognomia, from Ancient Greek φυσιογνωμία (phusiognōmía, “physiology”), from φύσις (phúsis, “physique, appearance”) + γνώμη (gnṓmē, “means of knowing”). Middle English phisonomie would regularly develop into *physnomy /ˈfɪznəmi/ (forms of this type are common in Early Modern English, such as fisnomie in All's Well that Ends Well); the modern spelling and pronunciation are due to learned influence.

Example Sentences

• "Known still less than Della Porta is the figure of Camillo Baldi, an early-seventeenth-century Bolognese physician and university professor who advanced the discussion from the study of physiognomy and skull sizes to the study of characteriology based on writing. I am still not sure what to make of this treatise on onychomancy, that is, divining by observing the fingernails, except that he accounted for the practice as an example of the acute application of observational technique to the signs and symbols left by intelligent nature for humans to decipher in view of some benefit."
• "During a period of peak popularity in the 19ᵗʰ Century, the field of physiognomy became more sinister and racist than its quirky manifestation during the time of ancient Greeks."
• "Faith ſir a has an Engliſh maine, but his fiſnomie is more hotter in France then there."