phoenix

English Online Dictionary. What means phoenix‎? What does phoenix mean?

English

Alternative forms

• phenix (archaic)
• phœnix (obsolete typography)

Etymology

From Old English and Old French fenix, from Medieval Latin phenix, from Latin phoenīx, from Ancient Greek φοῖνιξ (phoînix), from Egyptian bnw (boinu, “grey heron”). Doublet of Bennu. The grey heron was venerated at Heliopolis and associated in Egypt with the cyclical renewal of life because the bird rises in flight at dawn and migrates back every year in the flood season to inhabit the Nile waters.

Pronunciation

• enPR: fē'nĭks, IPA^(key): /ˈfiːnɪks/
• Rhymes: -iːnɪks

Noun

phoenix (plural phoenix or phoenixes or phoenices)

2. (mythology) A mythological bird, said to be the only one of its kind, which lives for 500 years and then dies by burning to ashes on a pyre of its own making, ignited by the sun. It then arises anew from the ashes.
3. (figuratively) Anything that is reborn after apparently being destroyed.
4. (Chinese mythology) A mythological Chinese chimerical bird whose physical body symbolizes the six celestial bodies; a fenghuang.
5. (historical) A Greek silver coin used briefly from 1828 to 1832, divided into 100 lepta.
6. (obsolete) A marvelous person or thing.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

phoenix (third-person singular simple present phoenixes, present participle phoenixing, simple past and past participle phoenixed)

1. (Australia) To transfer assets from one company to another to dodge liability

References

Further reading

• phoenix (mythology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• fenghuang on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• phoenix (currency) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Latin

Alternative forms

• fenix

Etymology

From Ancient Greek φοῖνιξ (phoînix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpʰoe̯.niːks/, [ˈpʰoe̯niːks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfe.niks/, [ˈfɛːniks]

Noun

phoenīx f (genitive phoenīcis); third declension

1. (mythology) phoenix

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Noun

phoenīx m (genitive phoenīcis); third declension

1. Phoenician

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Adjective

phoenīx (genitive phoenīcis); third-declension one-termination adjective (non-i-stem)

1. Phoenician

Declension

Third-declension one-termination adjective (non-i-stem).

Synonyms

• (Phoenician): phoenīcius

Related terms

(Phoenician):

• Phoenīcia
• phoenīcius

References

(phoenix):

• “phoenix, īcis, m.”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “phoenīx īcis （acc. īca, O.), m”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “phoenix”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

(Phoenician):

• “Phoenix, īcis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Phoenīces, um, m. and sing. Phoenix s.v. Phoenīcē, ēs, f.”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin phoenīx.

Noun

phoenix m (plural phoenicși)

1. phoenix

Declension