# phoenix

Pronunciation: US say "FEE-niks" /ˈfiːnɪks/; UK

## Noun

1. A mythical bird, said to be the only one of its kind, that lives 500 years, burns to ashes on a self-made pyre lit by the sun, and rises anew from the ashes.
   - Simple: A bird in old stories that lives for 500 years, then burns and is born again from its ashes.
   - _As its five hundred years drew to a close, the phoenix built its pyre and waited for the sun to light it._
   - _From the cooling ashes, a young phoenix lifted its wings and flew toward the sunrise._
2. Something that is reborn or rises again after appearing to have been destroyed.
   - Simple: Something that comes back to life after it seemed to be destroyed.
   - _The airline emerged from bankruptcy like a phoenix, smaller but debt-free._
   - _Rebuilt stone by stone after the bombing, the old cathedral is the city's phoenix._
3. A composite bird of Chinese mythology, the fenghuang, whose body is said to symbolize the six celestial bodies.
   - Simple: A magic bird in Chinese stories, made from parts of different animals, whose body stands for six objects in the sky.
   - _Embroidered on the empress's robe, a phoenix faced a coiled dragon across the silk._
   - _Chinese wedding dresses are often embroidered with a dragon and a phoenix._

## Noun

4. A person or thing so remarkable as to seem a marvel. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A person or thing that is amazing and very special.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To transfer assets from one company to another so as to escape the first company's liabilities.
- (noun) A Greek silver coin, divided into 100 lepta, that was in use only briefly, from 1828 to 1832.

## Origin

Ancient Greek φοῖνιξ (phoînix) passed into Latin as phoenīx and Medieval Latin as phenix, and from there into Old English and Old French as fenix. The Greek word possibly comes from Egyptian bnw (boinu, "gray heron"), and if so Bennu is a doublet. In Egypt the gray heron was honored at Heliopolis and tied to the cycle of life's renewal, since it takes flight at dawn and comes back each year in the flood season to live on the waters of the Nile.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/phoenix (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).