facies

See also: facíes and faciès

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin faciēs (“form, configuration, figure; face, visage, countenance”). Doublet of face.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪ.ʃi.iːz/
Audio (UK) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪ.ʃiˌiz/, /ˈfeɪ.ʃiz/
Rhymes: -eɪʃiiːz, -eɪʃiːz

Noun

facies (countable and uncountable, plural facies)

General appearance.
- 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 6:
  The Chilean Amphijubula Schust. (Schuster, 1970a) which has the facies of a small Frullania and agrees with Frullania in leaf insertion and branching, has a nontiered seta with 16 epidermal cell rows surrounding 4 inner rows.
(medicine) Facial features, like an expression or complexion, typical for patients having certain diseases or conditions.
costivefacies
Hyponyms: masked facies, moon facies
(geology) A body of rock with specified characteristics reflecting its formation, composition, age, and fossil content.
Hyponyms: biofacies, lithofacies, microfacies, ichnofacies, taphofacies

Derived terms

facies Hippocratica
Williams elfin facies syndrome

References

“facies”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
“facies”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Anagrams

Scaife

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *fakjēs, which is of disputed origin. It may be from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to do, set, put, impose, place”) (faciēs may be to faciō as speciēs is to speciō, and may literally mean "imposed form"[1]); however, others class it with facētus, fax.

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈfa.ki.eːs/, [ˈfäkieːs̠]

(Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfa.t͡ʃi.es/, [ˈfäːt͡ʃies]

Noun

faciēs f (genitive faciēī); fifth declension

(in general) make, form, shape, figure, configuration
Synonyms: speciēs, frōns, fōrma, habitus
- 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 12.891:
  verte omnes tete in facies
  resort to every expedient
  (literally, “change yourself in every shape”)
(usually Classical Latin) (in particular) face, countenance, visage
- 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Genesis 1:2:
  Terra autem erat inānis et vacua, et tenebrae erant super faciem abyssī et spīritus Deī ferēbātur super aquās.
  And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the waters.
(figuratively, Classical Latin) external form, look, condition, appearance
in faciem + (genitive) ― like, in the guise of
1. (in particular) external appearance as opposed to reality; pretence, pretext
2. (transferred sense, poetic) look, sight, aspect
Synonym: speciēs
beauty, loveliness
Synonyms: pulchritūdō, decus, decor
Antonyms: dēdecus, dehonestāmentum

Inflection

Fifth-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	faciēs	faciēs
Genitive	faciēī	faciērum
Dative	faciēī	faciēbus
Accusative	faciem	faciēs
Ablative	faciē	faciēbus
Vocative	faciēs	faciēs

Old Genitive: faciēs

Gellius: vocabulum facies hoc modo declinatur: "haec facies, huius facies", quod nunc propter rationem grammaticam "faciei" dicitur

Derived terms

bonifaciēs
facitergium
superficiēs

Descendants

Verb

faciēs

second-person singular future active indicative of faciō

References

Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “facies”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 3: D–F, page 355

Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “face”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

facies

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

References

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Inflection

Derived terms

Descendants

Verb

References

Further reading