What does physical mean?
Physical describes anything connected with the body, material reality, or observable natural processes. Its most common sense is bodily: physical strength, physical health, and physical activity all concern the body's condition or movement. The word can also distinguish the physical world from the emotional, mental, or spiritual, as in “the physical and the metaphysical.” Physical science, physical force, and physical geography use the adjective in technical contexts, where it refers respectively to measurable natural phenomena, forces acting on material bodies, and features of the earth's surface. Although primarily an adjective, physical is also a rare noun meaning a person's physique or bodily build, though physique is now the usual neutral term. The word is useful because it ranges from straightforward references to anatomy and movement to broader contrasts between tangible experience and abstract thought.
Relating to the body, material objects, or observable natural processes; also, existing in a tangible or bodily form.
"Her physical recovery was faster than the doctors had expected."
Commonly contrasted with mental, emotional, or spiritual qualities.
A person's physique or bodily form, especially when considered as a quality or characteristic.
"The dancer had a powerful physical."
Rare in modern English; physique is normally preferred.
Rare and context-dependent; the modern singular noun is usually replaced by physique.
"The athletes were judged on their physicals."
Physical shares its root with physics because both trace back to Greek physis, meaning “nature” or “growth.”
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does physical come from?
Physical comes from Latin physicalis, a word meaning “of or pertaining to nature,” derived from Greek physikos, from physis, meaning “nature” or “growth.” It entered English in the early 17th century and was initially associated more closely with natural or material phenomena than with the body. The same root underlies physics, physic, physician, and physique through Latin, Greek, and French.
Related word forms
How physical is actually used
The adjective is common in both British and US English. In general use, it contrasts the bodily or tangible with the mental, emotional, or spiritual; technical contexts may also contrast physical phenomena with abstract or nonphysical ones. The noun is uncommon outside older, literary, or deliberately formal usage.
Easily confused with physical
Physical is an adjective meaning “relating to the body,” whereas physique is a noun referring to a person's physical build or bodily form.
Physical is the modern adjective relating to the body or material reality, while physic now chiefly means an archaic medicinal remedy or, in the plural, medicine generally.