superficies

See also: superfícies

English

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin superficiēs (“top, surface”), from super- (“above, over”) +‎ faciēs (“form, configuration, shape”). Doublet of surface.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌsuː.pəˈfɪʃ.i.iːz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌsu.pɚˈfɪˌʃiz/, /ˌsu.pɚˈfɪʃ.iˌiz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

superficies (plural superficies)

1. (geometry) A two-dimensional magnitude that has length and breadth; especially such a surface that forms the boundary of a solid.
   1. The area of a two-dimensional surface.
   2. The visible, external surface of a body.
      • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Permitted to See the Grand Academy of Lagado. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 72:

        The Superficies was compoſed of ſeveral bits of Wood, about the bigneſs of a Dye, but ſome larger than others.

2. The surface (of something immaterial, especially of the mind or soul).
   • 1819, Washington Irving, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Rural Life in England:

     An immense metropolis, like London, is calculated to make men selfish and uninteresting. … They present but the cold superficies of character—its rich and genial qualities have no time to be warmed into a flow.

3. (law) A building intimately associated with the land on which it is built.

Related terms

• superficial
• superficiary

 

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “superficies”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.
• “superficies”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “superficies”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Asturian

Noun

superficies

1. plural of superficie

French

Noun

superficies f

1. plural of superficie

Interlingua

Noun

superficies

1. plural of superficie

Latin

Etymology

From super- (“above, over”) +‎ faciēs (“form, configuration, shape”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /su.perˈfi.ki.eːs/, [s̠ʊpɛrˈfɪkieːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /su.perˈfi.t͡ʃi.es/, [superˈfiːt͡ʃies]

Noun

superficiēs f (genitive superficiēī); fifth declension

1. the top, surface (upper side of a thing)
2. (law) a building (as opposed to the land on which it is built)
3. (geometry) a superficies

Inflection

Fifth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	superficiēs	superficiēs
genitive	superficiēī	superficiērum
dative	superficiēī	superficiēbus
accusative	superficiem	superficiēs
ablative	superficiē	superficiēbus
vocative	superficiēs	superficiēs

Derived terms

• superficiālis
• superficiārius
• superficium

Descendants

superficiēs

• → English: superficies
• → French: surface, superficie (calque)
• → German: Oberfläche (calque) (likely)
• → Dutch: oppervlakte (calque) (likely)
• → Italian: superficie
• → Piedmontese: superfice

References

• “superficies”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “superficies”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• superficies in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• superficies in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “superficies”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Spanish

Noun

superficies f pl

1. plural of superficie