phoenix

plural phoenixes · plural phoenices · alternative archaic phenix · alternative archaic phœnix

1. human sciencesA 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.

   burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood

   1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 19”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC

2. figurativelyAnything that is reborn after apparently being destroyed.

   Astronomers believe planets might form in this dead star's disk, like the mythical Phoenix rising up out of the ashes.

   2 more examples

   Lord Allerton was that modern phœnix, a young man, without a single objection.

   1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 17

   Many of the legitimate nightclubs of today sprang like legalized phoenixes from the still-hot ashes of the speakeasies of prohibition days.

   1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 90

3. Chinesehuman sciencesA mythological Chinese chimerical bird whose physical body symbolizes the six celestial bodies; a fenghuang.
4. historicalA Greek silver coin used briefly from 1828 to 1832, divided into 100 lepta.

   The national currency, the phoenix, which had been established by Kapodistrias, was renamed after an ancient Greek coin, the drachma.

   2019, Roderick Beaton, Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation, Penguin, published 2020, page 116

5. obsoleteA marvelous person or thing.

   He may not be a phœnix of cleverness in your sense; his profession is different; but it would be all the better for you to talk a little on his subjects.

   1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter LVIII, in Middlemarch […], volume III, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book VI, page 282

6. A geometer moth of species Eulithis prunata.

present singular third person phoenixes · participle present phoenixing · participle past phoenixed · past phoenixed · alternative archaic phenix · alternative archaic phœnix

1. AustraliaTo transfer assets from one company to another to dodge liability

   Australian Restructuring Insolvency and Turnaround Association CEO John Winter said phoenixing has been "endemic" for decades.

   2019 December 17, Noel Gladstone, Carrie Fellner, “Small business flattened by 'dodgy' builders in phoenixing epidemic”, in The Sydney Morning Herald

   1 more example

   The ATO defines iIllegal^([sic – meaning illegal]) phoenixing as when a new company is created to continue the business of a company that has been deliberately liquidated to avoid paying its debts, including taxes, creditors and employee entitlements.

   2020 September 24, Anne Davies, “Phoenixing: how unscrupulous dealers rise debt-free from the ashes of failed companies”, in The Sydney Morning Herald

1. human sciencesA mythical firebird; especially the sacred one from ancient Egyptian mythology.
2. astronomyA spring constellation of the southern sky, said to resemble the mythical bird. It lies north of Tucana.
3. The name of two male characters in Greek mythology:
   1. Greekhuman sciencesA companion of Achilles to the Trojan War in the Iliad, son of Amyntor and father of Adonis.
   2. Greekhuman sciencesA son of Agenor and Telephassa, brother of Europa and Cadmus, eponym of Phoenicia.
4. A place name:
   1. A port town of ancient Lycia, in modern Antalya Province, Turkey; modern Finike.
   2. A town of ancient Caria, near modern-day Taşlıca Marmaris district, Muğla Province, Turkey.
   3. A port town of ancient Crete, in the modern municipality of Sfakia, Chania regional unit, Crete, Greece; modern Loutro.
   4. A port town of ancient Crete, in the modern municipality of Agios Vasileios, Rethymno regional unit, Crete, Greece; modern Foinikas.
   5. The capital city of Arizona, and the county seat of Maricopa County.

      1 more example

      A man was arrested Saturday in College Park, Georgia, after he was accused of throwing a sex toy on to the court during the Dream’s 29 July game with the Golden State Valkyries, according to a police report. The report said he threw another sex toy during the Dream’s game on Friday against the Phoenix Mercury. […] Another man in Phoenix was arrested after police say he threw a sex toy in the crowd at a Mercury game on Tuesday.

      2025 August 8, “Another WNBA game disrupted by sex toy thrown on court in Chicago”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 08 Aug 2025

   6. An unincorporated community in Putnam County, Georgia.
   7. A village in Thornton Township, Cook County, Illinois.
   8. An unincorporated community in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.
   9. An unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland.
   10. An unincorporated community in Houghton Township, Keweenaw County, Michigan.
   11. An unincorporated community in Yazoo County, Mississippi.
   12. A neighbourhood of Edison Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey.
   13. A neighborhood of Sayreville borough, Middlesex County, New Jersey.
   14. A village in the town of Schroeppel, Oswego County, New York.
   15. A city in Jackson County, Oregon.
   16. A community in Clearwater County, Alberta.
   17. A ghost town in the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary, British Columbia.
   18. A town north-west of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
5. A nickname sometimes used for Japan after World War II.
6. A surname.
7. A male given name.
8. A female given name.

1. A German breed of long-tailed chicken.
2. A geometer moth of species Eulithis prunata.
3. A white variety of grape of German origin used for winemaking.