word-forming element meaning "nature, natural, physical," from Greek physios "nature" (from PIE root *bheue- "to be, exist, grow").
Entries linking to physio-
*bheue-
*bheuə-, also *bheu-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to be, exist, grow."
It forms all or part of: Bauhaus; be; beam; Boer; bondage; boodle; boom (n.1) "long pole;" boor; booth; bound (adj.2) "ready to go;" bower; bowery; build; bumpkin; busk; bustle (v.) "be active;" byre; bylaw; Eisteddfod; Euphues; fiat; forebear; future; husband; imp; Monophysite; neighbor; neophyte; phyletic; phylo-; phylum; phylogeny; physic; physico-; physics; physio-; physique; -phyte; phyto-; symphysis.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit bhavah "becoming," bhavati "becomes, happens," bhumih "earth, world;" Greek phyein "to bring forth, make grow," phytos, phyton "a plant," physis "growth, nature," phylon "tribe, class, race," phyle "tribe, clan;" Old English beon "be, exist, come to be, become, happen;" Old Church Slavonic byti "be," Greek phu- "become," Old Irish bi'u "I am," Lithuanian būti "to be," Russian byt' "to be."
physiognomy n.
late 14c., phisonomie, "art of judging characters from facial features," from Old French fisonomie, phizonomie and directly from Medieval Latin physonomia, from Late Latin physiognomia, from Greek physiognōmia "the judging of a person's nature by his features," from physio- (see physio-) + gnōmōn (genitive gnōmōnos) "a judge, interpreter, indicator" (from PIE root *gno- "to know"). The meaning "face, countenance, the human face and its expressions" is from c. 1400. Related: Physiognomical.