Other forms: physicists
A physicist is a scientist who studies matter and energy. A theoretical physicist, a particle physicist, ask a physicist.
The word was coined in 1840 by William Whewell, who invented scientist in the same book because the language had no word for either. Theoretical and experimental physicists work in quite different ways and occasionally on the same problem.
1nounphysicistA scientist who studies matter and energy.
“The physicist spent years studying how light behaves near black holes.”
physicist is a scientist.
From physics plus -ist, coined by William Whewell in 1840.
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰuH-
Ancient Greek
φυσική
Latin
physica — study of nature
Old French
fisike — natural science, art of healing
Middle English
phisik
English
physics
English, today
physicist
Built from
From physics + -ist. From physics + ist. coined by William Whewell (1794–1866) in his book The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences (1840): see the quotation. physics 1580s; from physic (see also -ics), from Middle English phisik, from Old French fisike (“natural science, art of healing”), from Latin physica (“study of nature”), from Ancient Greek φυσική, feminine singular of φυσικός (“natural; physical”), from Ancient Greek φύσις (“origin; nature, property”), from Ancient Greek φύω (“produce; bear; grow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰuH- (“to appear, become, rise up”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA