phi

See also: Phi, PHI, phỉ, phị, phî, and -phi

Translingual

Symbol

phi

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-5 language code for Philippine languages.

English

Ancient Greek Alphabet

← upsilon		→ chi
Φ φ Ancient Greek: φεῖ
Wikipedia article on phi

Etymology

From Late Latin phi, from Ancient Greek φεῖ (pheî).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /faɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  • Rhymes: -aɪ
  • Homophone: fie
• IPA^(key): /fiː/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  • Rhymes: -iː
  • Homophone: fee

Noun

phi (plural phis)

1. Φ, the 21st letter of the Euclidean and modern Greek alphabet, usually romanized as "ph".
2. (mathematics) The golden ratio.
3. A visual illusion whereby a sequential pattern of lights produces a false sense of motion.
   • 1963, Psychology Through Experiment (George Humphrey, Jaroslav Antonio Deutsch), page 90:

     […] tolerance (Frenkel-Brunswik 1949) for it showed that those persons with the strongest defences against internal conflict, i.e. obsessionals and conversion hysterics, were those least able to perceive the reality-conflicting phenomenon of phi.

   • 2007, Wayne Weiten, Psychology: Themes and Variations: Themes And Variations, page 138:

     The illusion of movement in a highway construction sign is an instance of the phi phenomenon, which is also at work in motion pictures and television.

   • 2013, Francis Glebas, The Animator's Eye: Composition and Design, page 66:

     Is it the phi phenomenon or the persistence of vision? Originally, the illusion of motion that movies excel at was thought to be the effect of the persistence of vision.

Derived terms

• phi-feature
• phi phenomenon

 

Translations

Greek letter

• Arabic: فَاي m (fay)
• Catalan: fi (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 弗愛／弗爱 (zh), 佛爱 (fú'ài), 斐 (zh) (fěi)

• Czech: fí n
• Dutch: phi (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: fio (eo)
• Finnish: fii (fi)
• French: phi (fr) m
• German: Phi (de) n
• Greek: φι (el) n (fi)

  Ancient: φεῖ n (pheî)

• Hebrew: פִי (he) f (fi)
• Hungarian: fi (hu)
• Interlingua: phi
• Irish: fí f
• Japanese: ファイ (fai), フィ (fi), ピー (ja) (pī)
• Korean: 피 (ko) (pi)
• Macedonian: фи n (fi)
• Malay: fi
• Persian: فی (fa) (fi)
• Polish: fi (pl) n, phi (pl) n
• Portuguese: fi (pt) m
• Romanian: fi (ro)
• Russian: фи (ru) n (fi)
• Slovak: fí n
• Spanish: fi (es) f

See also

• (Greek letter): Previous: upsilon, Next: chi

Anagrams

• HIP, PIH, hip

Dutch

Alternative forms

• fi

Etymology

From Ancient Greek φεῖ (pheî).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

phi m or f (plural phi's, diminutive phi'tje n)

1. phi (letter of the Greek alphabet)

Further reading

• phi on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

phi m (plural phi)

1. phi (Greek letter)

Further reading

• “phi”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpi/
• Rhymes: -i
• Hyphenation: phì

Noun

phi m (invariable)

1. phi (Greek letter)

Polish

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpxi/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: phi

Interjection

phi

1. huh, pooh used to express dismissal, contempt, impatience, etc.

Etymology 2

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek φεῖ (pheî).

Alternative forms

• fi

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfi/
• Rhymes: -i
• Syllabification: phi

Noun

phi n (indeclinable)

1. phi (Greek letter Φ, φ)

Further reading

• phi in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• phi in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Noun

phi m (invariable)

1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of fi.

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [fi˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [fɪj˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [fɪj˧˧]

Etymology 1

Sino-Vietnamese word from 飛 (“to fly; to gallop”).

Verb

phi

1. (of a horse) to gallop

   Ngựa phi.

   The horse gallops.

2. to flee; to travel very quickly

   Phi nhanh về nhà kẻo tối.

   Hurry home before it gets dark.

3. to lance (to throw in the manner of a lance)

   phi dao găm

   to throw a dagger

Derived terms

Derived terms

• phi báo
• phi cảng
• phi công
• phi công vũ trụ
• phi cơ
• phi đao
• phi điểu
• phi đội
• phi hành
• phi hành đoàn
• phi hành gia
• phi hành vũ trụ
• phi kiếm
• phi mã, Phi Mã
• phi ngựa (“to gallop a horse”)
• phi pháo
• phi tiêu
• phi thuyền
• phi trường
• phi vụ
• phi xuất
• song phi

Etymology 2

Sino-Vietnamese word from 非 (“not”).

Prefix

phi (非)

1. non-, in-

   phi (chính) nghĩa

   unjust; for an unjustifiable cause

   phi phàm

   inhuman; extraordinary

Derived terms

Derived terms

• gian phi
• phi chính nghĩa
• phi chính phủ (“non-governmental”)
• phi chính trị
• phi đạo đức
• phi giai cấp
• phi giáo hội
• phi lộ
• phi lợi nhuận (“non-profit”)
• phi lý, phi lí
• phi mậu dịch
• phi nghĩa (“unjust”)
• phi nhân
• phi ngã
• phi phàm
• phi pháp
• phi phù trí quỷ
• phi quân sự
• phi quân sự hóa, phi quân sự hoá
• phi sản xuất
• phi tang
• phi thời gian
• phi thực dân hóa, phi thực dân hoá
• phi thực tại
• phi thường
• phi thương bất phú
• phi trọng lượng
• phi vi
• phi vô sản
• phi vô sản hóa, phi vô sản hoá
• phi vụ
• tái ông thất mã, yên tri phi phúc
• thị phi
• trừ phi

Conjunction

phi

1. if it isn't

   Phi anh ấy, không ai biết.

   If it isn't him, then who knows?

Etymology 3

Verb

phi

1. to stir-fry (an onion, scallion, or clove of garlic) before preparing a dish

   Phi tỏi rồi mới bỏ rau muống vào.

   Stir-fry the garlic before adding in water spinach.

   Phi hành để nấu nước chấm.

   Stir-fry the onion to make dipping sauce.

Etymology 4

Noun

(classifier con) phi

1. Various species of saltwater clam of the genus Sanguinolaria, such as Sanguinolaria diphos and Sanguinolaria planculata.

Etymology 5

Borrowed from Latin phi.

Noun

phi

1. phi (Φ)

Etymology 6

Sino-Vietnamese word from 妃.

Noun

phi

1. concubines, mistresses, ladies of a monarch.

   các bà phi trong cung

   the palace concubines

2. wives, consorts of a junior monarch such as a prince.

   vương phi, vương tử phi, hoàng tử phi

   the queen consort, the royal princess consort, the imperial princess consort

Synonyms

• (concubine): vợ lẽ, vợ bé, phi tần
• (consort): vợ

Derived terms

Derived terms

• ái phi
• cung phi
• phi hậu
• phi tần
• quý phi, quí phi
• thứ phi

Etymology 7

Sino-Vietnamese reading of various Chinese characters.

Romanization

phi

1. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 妃
2. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 痱
3. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 不
4. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 霏
5. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 髬
6. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 腓
7. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 斐
8. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 丕
9. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 蜚
10. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 披
11. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 騑
12. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 鯡
13. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 扉
14. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 緋
15. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 飛
16. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 非
17. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 紕
18. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 菲
19. Sino-Vietnamese reading of 呸

Derived terms

• Bột Phi
• Hàn Phi
• hoàng phi
• hoành phi
• Phi Lai Giang
• Phi Liêm

See also

• phi-la-tốp
• phi lao, phi-lao
• phi lê, phi-lê (“fillet”)
• phi-nan (“finale”)
• phi-năng (“finance”)
• phương phi

References

• "phi" in Hồ Ngọc Đức, Free Vietnamese Dictionary Project (details)
• Lê Sơn Thanh, "Nom-Viet.dat", WinVNKey (details)

Zulu

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adjective

-phi^?

1. which

Inflection

Enumerative concord, tone H
	Modifier
Class 1	muphi
Class 2	baphi
Class 3	muphi
Class 4	miphi
Class 5	liphi
Class 6	maphi
Class 7	siphi
Class 8	ziphi
Class 9	yiphi
Class 10	ziphi
Class 11	luphi
Class 14	buphi
Class 15	kuphi
Class 17	kuphi

References

• C. M. Doke, B. W. Vilakazi (1972) “phi”, in Zulu-English Dictionary, →ISBN: “phi”