Phoenix

Pronunciation

• enPR: fÄ“'nÄ­ks, IPA: /ˈfiːnɪks/
• Rhymes: -iːnɪks

Alternative forms

• phenix, phÅ“nix, pheonix

Origin

From Latin phoenīx, from Ancient Greek φοῖνιξ, from Egyptian bnw (boinu, "grey heron"). The grey heron was venerated at Heliopolis and associated in Egypt with the cyclical renewal of life because the bird rises in flight at dawn and migrates back every year in the flood season to inhabit the Nile waters.

Maria Carmela Betrò, Hieroglyphics: The Writings of Ancient Egypt (Abbeville, 1996), 108.

Full definition of phoenix

Noun

1. (mythology) A mythological bird, said to be the only one of its kind, which lives for 500 years and then dies by burning to ashes on a pyre of its own making, ignited by the sun. It then arises anew from the ashes.
2. (figuratively) Anything that is reborn after apparently being destroyed. Usually used as a simile.Astronomers believe planets might form in this dead star's disk, like the mythical Phoenix rising up out of the ashes.
3. (mythology) A mythological Chinese chimerical bird whose physical body symbolizes the six celestial bodies.