complexion

== English == === Alternative forms === complection (obsolete) === Etymology === From Middle English complexion (“temperament”), from Old French complexion (French complexion), from Medieval Latin complexiō (“complexion, constitution”), from complector, past participle complexus (“to entwine, encompass”). === Pronunciation === (General American) IPA(key): /kəmˈplɛkʃən/ Rhymes: -ɛkʃən Hyphenation: com‧plex‧ion === Noun === complexion (plural complexions) The quality, colour, or appearance of the skin on the face. (figuratively) The outward appearance of something. Outlook, attitude, or point of view. (obsolete, medicine) The combination of humours making up one's physiological "temperament", being either hot or cold, and moist or dry. (loanword, especially in scientific works translated from German) An arrangement. 1909, Ludwig Boltzmann, translated by Kim Sharp and Franz Matschinsky Second there is the level at which the energy or velocity components of each molecule are specified. He calls this a Komplexion, which we translate literally as complexion. ==== Synonyms ==== See also Thesaurus:countenance ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== complect complex complexional ==== Translations ==== === Verb === complexion (third-person singular simple present complexions, present participle complexioning, simple past and past participle complexioned) (transitive) To give a colour to. ==== Further reading ==== “complexion”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “complexion”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. == French == === Etymology === Learned borrowing from Latin complexiōnem. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /kɔ̃.plɛk.sjɔ̃/ === Noun === complexion f (plural complexions) complexion Synonyms: tempérament, constitution === Further reading === “complexion”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012 == Interlingua == === Etymology === From English complexion, French complexion and Portuguese complexão, all from Medieval Latin complexiō. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /kom.plekˈsjon/ === Noun === complexion (plural complexiones) complexion, constitution === Further reading === Alexander Gode (1951), Interlingua-English: A Dictionary of the International Language, New York: Storm Publishers, →OL == Old French == === Etymology === First known attestation circa 1120, a learned borrowing from Latin complexiō. === Noun === complexion oblique singular, f (oblique plural complexions, nominative singular complexion, nominative plural complexions) (medicine) complexion (combination of humours making up one's physiological "temperament") === References === Frédéric Godefroy (1880–1902), “complession”, in Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle […], Paris: F[riedrich] Vieweg; Émile Bouillon, →OCLC.