face
/ˈfeɪ̯s/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.45 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The front part of the head of a human or other animal, featuring the eyes, nose, and mouth, and the surrounding area.
noun
The amount expressed on a bill, note, bond, etc., without any interest or discount; face value.
Informal; Slang
noun
noun
Good reputation; standing, in the eyes of others; dignity; prestige.
Example Sentences
- "That girl has a pretty face."
- "The monkey pressed its face against the railings."
- "It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers."
- "‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared.[…]’"
- "Why the sad face?"
- "Children! Stop making faces at each other!"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁k- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁kyéti Proto-Italic *θakjō Proto-Italic *fakjō Latin faciō Proto-Italic *-jēs Latin -iēs Latin faciēs Late Latin facia Old French facebor. Middle English face English face From Middle English face, from Old French face, from Late Latin facia, from Latin faciēs (“form, appearance”). Doublet of facies. Displaced native onlete (“face, countenance, appearance”), anleth (“face”), from Old English anwlite, andwlita, compare German Antlitz; Old English ansīen (“face”), Middle English neb (“face, nose”) (from Old English nebb), Middle English ler, leor, leer (“face, cheek, countenance”) (from Old English hlēor), and non-native Middle English vis (“face, appearance, look”) (from Old French vis) and Middle English chere (“face”) from Old French chere. In the sense of face as in reputation, influenced by Chinese 面子 (miànzi) or 臉／脸 (liǎn), both of which mean literally the front of the head and metaphorically one's public image. See lose face.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈfeɪ̯s/
- British English: /ˈfeɪ̯s/