physis

Physis (Greek: ) is a Greek theological, philosophical, and scientific term usually translated into English as "nature".

The word morpheme -physis (φύσις) occurs at the ends of some anatomical names, usually of projecting parts of bones, and in some names of animals (e.g. Coelophysis). If with a Greek preposition, as in e.g. X-physis, it means "a process which sticks out in the direction X"; otherwise it means "form", "nature". It is from Greek φυσις from the verb φυω = "I bring forth", "I produce", "I make to grow".