Physiognomy

Physiognomy (Gk. physis, nature and gnosis, knowledge) is a pseudoscience, based upon the belief that the study and judgement of a person's outer appearance, primarily the face, reflects their character or personality. Up until the time of English King Henry VIII, its validity was so widely assumed that it was taught in universities and was an everyday concept that had developed into a regular Middle English word spelled fisnamy or visnomy. After that time, scholastic leaders settled on the more erudite form 'physiognomy' and began to discourage the whole idea of 'fisnamy'.

Related disciplines

• Phrenology
• Pathognomy
• Characterology
• Personology