phoenix means A mythical firebird; especially the sacred one from ancient Egyptian mythology. It carries an Arena rating of 1878, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, phoenix ranks #37 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #101 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #319 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #1,567 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words.
phoenix is pronounced /ˈfiːnɪks/.
Why “phoenix” is a great word
A mythical bird that cyclically regenerates or is reborn, arising from its own ashes after being consumed by fire. From Latin phoenīx, from Ancient Greek φοῖνῐξ (phoînix), of uncertain ultimate origin, though often associated with the color purple-red (φοινός, phoinós) or with the Phoenicians. Unlike the griffin, a vigilant hybrid bound to a single form, or the simurgh, a timeless Persian symbol of wisdom and healing, the phoenix is defined by its singular, terrible covenant with annihilation and retrieval. It is the scent of smoldering myrrh rising from a pyre at dawn, the warmth of embers cradling a fledgling with feathers like molten gold, and the hush before a new song breaks over a world still trembling from the last fire—the quiet insistence that even total ruin can cradle a beginning, if only one is willing to burn.
Etymology
From Latin phoenīx, Phoenīx, from Ancient Greek φοῖνῐξ (phoînĭx), Φοῖνῐξ (Phoînĭx).
name
- A mythical firebird; especially the sacred one from ancient Egyptian mythology.
- A spring constellation of the southern sky, said to resemble the mythical bird. It lies north of Tucana.
- The name of two male characters in Greek mythology:; A companion of Achilles to the Trojan War in the Iliad, son of Amyntor and father of Adonis.
- The name of two male characters in Greek mythology:; A son of Agenor and Telephassa, brother of Europa and Cadmus, eponym of Phoenicia.
- A place name:; A number of places in Turkey:; A port town of ancient Lycia, in modern Antalya Province, Turkey; modern Finike.
- A place name:; A number of places in Turkey:; A town of ancient Caria, near modern-day Taşlıca Marmaris district, Muğla Province, Turkey.
- A place name:; A number of places in Greece:; A port town of ancient Crete, in the modern municipality of Sfakia, Chania regional unit, Crete, Greece; modern Loutro.
- A place name:; A number of places in Greece:; A port town of ancient Crete, in the modern municipality of Agios Vasileios, Rethymno regional unit, Crete, Greece; modern Foinikas.
- A place name:; A number of places in the United States:; The capital city of Arizona, and the county seat of Maricopa County.
- A place name:; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Putnam County, Georgia.
- A place name:; A number of places in the United States:; A village in Thornton Township, Cook County, Illinois.
- A place name:; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.
- A place name:; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland.
- A place name:; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Houghton Township, Keweenaw County, Michigan.
- A place name:; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Yazoo County, Mississippi.
noun
- A mythological bird, said to be the only one of its kind, which lives for 500 years and then dies by burning to ashes on a pyre of its own making, ignited by the sun. It then arises anew from the ashes.e.g.“burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood” — 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 19”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
- Anything that is reborn after apparently being destroyed.e.g.“Astronomers believe planets might form in this dead star's disk, like the mythical Phoenix rising up out of the ashes.”
- A mythological Chinese chimerical bird whose physical body symbolizes the six celestial bodies; a fenghuang.
- A Greek silver coin used briefly from 1828 to 1832, divided into 100 lepta.e.g.“The national currency, the phoenix, which had been established by Kapodistrias, was renamed after an ancient Greek coin, the drachma.” — 2019, Roderick Beaton, Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation, Penguin, published 2020, page 116:
- A marvelous person or thing.e.g.“He may not be a phœnix of cleverness in your sense; his profession is different; but it would be all the better for you to talk a little on his subjects.” — 1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter LVIII, in Middlemarch […], volume III, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book VI, page 282:
- A geometer moth of species Eulithis prunata.
- A German breed of long-tailed chicken.
- A geometer moth of species Eulithis prunata.
- A white variety of grape of German origin used for winemaking.
verb
- To transfer assets from one company to another to dodge liabilitye.g.“Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association CEO John Winter said phoenixing has been "endemic" for decades.” — 2019 December 17, Noel Gladstone, Carrie Fellner, “Small business flattened by 'dodgy' builders in phoenixing epidemic”, in The Sydney Morning Herald:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- fenghuang 58% match — A phoenix found in Asian mythologies, which reigns over all other birds, often of female sex and frequently found paired with the Chinese dragon. vs phoenix →
- phoenixlike 57% match — Resembling a phoenix, especially in being (figuratively) reborn after destruction. vs phoenix →
- sebright 57% match — A bantam chicken of a particular British breed. vs phoenix →
- campine 57% match — A chicken of a breed originating from the aforementioned region. vs phoenix →
- houdan 56% match — A domestic chicken of an old French breed, having an unusual butterfly-shaped comb and five toes rather than the usual four. vs phoenix →
- cochin 56% match — A domestic hen of a large variety with feathered legs, full breast, and small tail. vs phoenix →
- phenicopter 56% match — A flamingo. vs phoenix →
- dominique 56% match — An American breed of chicken with a rose comb and a heavy plumage of irregularly striped black-and-white feathers. vs phoenix →