physical capital

[ fiz-i-kuhl kap-i-tl ]

noun

1. tools, machinery, computers, and other equipment that are needed for the production of goods and services:

   money spent by business firms on physical capital.

Word History and Origins

Origin of physical capital¹

First recorded in 1835–45, for an earlier sense

Example Sentences

In the United States and other advanced economies, labor is taxed at a much higher rate than the physical capital and knowledge capital required to produce goods, encouraging investments that use capital and save labor.

From MIT Technology Review

He was thirty years old, with his full account of mental and physical capital.

From Project Gutenberg

Every hour that a child sleeps is just so much investment of physical capital for years to come.

From Project Gutenberg

To render Paris the physical capital of Europe is, through his own confession, "one of his constant dreams."

From Project Gutenberg

She could not sleep and was so fatigued that she believed herself at the end of her physical capital.

From Project Gutenberg