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Phoenix

The capital and largest city of Arizona, in the south-central part of the state northwest of Tucson. Founded in the 1860s on the site of an ancient Hohokam settlement, it became territorial capital in 1889 and state capital in 1912.

phoe·nix also phe·nix

(fēnĭks)

1. Mythology A bird in Egyptian mythology that lived in the desert for 500 years and then consumed itself by fire, later to rise renewed from its ashes.

2. A person or thing of unsurpassed excellence or beauty; a paragon.

3. Phoenix A constellation in the Southern Hemisphere near Tucana and Sculptor.

[Middle English fenix, from Old English and Old French, both from Medieval Latin fēnix, from Latin phoenix, from Greek phoinix.]

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phoenix

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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