physicist

English

Etymology

From physics +‎ -ist. Coined by English polymath William Whewell in 1840 in his book The philosophy of the inductive sciences.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɪz.ɪ.sɪst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

physicist (plural physicists)

1. A person whose occupation specializes in the science of physics, especially at a professional level.
   • 1961 February, R. K. Evans, “The role of research on British Railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 95:

     Physicists find themselves called in to deal with such varied problems as the reduction of noise in diesel railcars, investigation of the Hertzian stresses set up by wheel-rail contact and improvement of the insulation of fish and banana vans.

2. (archaic) A believer in the theory that the fundamental phenomena of life are to be explained upon purely chemical and physical principles (opposed to vitalist).

Translations

person whose occupation specializes in the science of physics

• Afrikaans: fisikus
• Albanian: fizikan (sq) m
• Arabic: فِيزِيَائِيّ‎ m (fīziyāʾiyy), فِيزِيَائِيَّة‎ f (fīziyāʾiyya)
• Armenian: ֆիզիկոս (hy) (fizikos)
• Azerbaijani: fizik
• Basque: fisikari (eu)
• Belarusian: фі́зік m (fízik), фі́зык m (fízyk)
• Bulgarian: физи́к m (fizík), физи́чка f (fizíčka)
• Catalan: físic (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 物理學家 (zh), 物理学家 (zh) (wùlǐxuéjiā)

• Czech: fyzik (cs) m
• Danish: fysiker c
• Dutch: natuurkundige (nl) m or f, fysicus (nl) m
• Esperanto: fizikisto
• Estonian: füüsik
• Faroese: alisfrøðingur m
• Finnish: fyysikko (fi)
• French: physicien (fr) m physicienne (fr) f
• Galician: físico (gl)
• Georgian: ფიზიკოსი (piziḳosi)
• German: Physiker (de) m, Physikerin (de) f
• Greek: φυσικός (el) m or f (fysikós)
• Hebrew: פִיזִיקַאי‎ (he) m (fizikái)
• Hindi: भौतिकविज्ञानी m (bhautikvigyānī)
• Hungarian: fizikus (hu)
• Icelandic: eðlisfræðingur (is) m
• Irish: fisiceoir m, fisicí m
• Italian: fisico (it) m
• Japanese: 物理学者 (ja) (ぶつりがくしゃ, butsurigakusha)
• Kazakh: физик (fïzïk)
• Khmer: ^{(please verify)} រូបវិទូ (ruupvituu)
• Korean: 물리학자 (ko) (mullihakja)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: fizîknas (ku)

• Kyrgyz: физик (ky) (fizik)
• Lao: ນັກຟີຊິກ (nak fī sik)
• Latvian: fiziķis m, fiziķe f
• Lithuanian: fizikas m, fizikė f
• Macedonian: физичар m (fizičar)
• Malay: ahli fizik (ms)
• Mongolian: физикч (mn) (fizikch)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fysiker m

  Nynorsk: fysikar (nn) m

• Occitan: fisician m
• Persian: فیزیک‌دان‎ (fizikdân), فیزیکدان‎ (fizikdân)
• Pitcairn-Norfolk: fisisist
• Polish: fizyk (pl) m or f
• Portuguese: físico (pt) m
• Romanian: fizician (ro) m, fiziciană (ro) f
• Russian: фи́зик (ru) m (fízik)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: фѝзича̄р m

  Roman: fìzičār (sh) m

• Slovak: fyzik (sk) m
• Slovene: fizik (sl) m
• Spanish: físico (es)
• Swahili: mwanafizikia (sw)
• Swedish: fysiker (sv) c
• Tagalog: liknayanon
• Tajik: физик (fizik), физикдон (fizikdon)
• Thai: นักฟิสิกส์ (nák-fí-sìk)
• Turkish: fizikçi (tr)
• Turkmen: fizik
• Ukrainian: фі́зик m (fízyk)
• Uzbek: fizik (uz)
• Vietnamese: nhà vật lý
• Yakut: фи́зик (fízik)
• Yiddish: פֿיזיקער‎ m (fiziker), פֿיזיקערין‎ f (fizikerin)