vật lí

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

vật lý

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 物理, composed of 物 (“thing”) and 理 (“workings”), Japanese 物理 (butsuri, “physical; naturalist”), Middle Chinese 物理 (“workings of things”). In Japanese, sometimes used in contrast with 心理 (shinri, tâm lí, “psychological; intellectual”), as one of the two types of scientific disciplines. Compare sinh lí (“physiology”, literally “workings of life”) and địa lí (“geography”, literally “workings of the earth”).