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phi

American  
[fahy] / faɪ /

noun

  • phis
    plural
  1. the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet (Φ, φ).

  2. the consonant sound represented by this letter.


phi British  
/ faɪ /

noun

  1. the 21st letter in the Greek alphabet (Φ, φ), a consonant, transliterated as ph or f

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Alpha, beta, upsilon, phi / Tuition here is too damn high!

From Washington Times ● Dec. 26, 2019

Having seen the alpha and omega of the series, I'm eager to see the gamma, delta, epsilon and phi, or whichever intermediate Greek letters you want to represent those four other episodes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2019

In modern Greek, phi sounds like “f,” but it is usually transliterated from ancient Greek as “ph.”

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 7, 2019

But because the phi of the entire brain exceeds that of any of its components, its consciousness suppresses or “excludes” its components’ mini-minds.

From Scientific American ● Dec. 1, 2015

The letters phi, psi, sigma, zeta, which require a great deal of wind, are employed in the imitation of such notions as shivering, seething, shaking, and in general of what is windy.

From Cratylus by Benjamin Jowett

Literally full of sigmas, phis, omegas and other symbols.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 7, 2020

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