Physiognomically

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. In a fashion that relates to understanding a person's character based on their facial characteristics
2. In a way that connects the characteristics of one's face to the assessment of their inner personality and traits
3. In a way that interprets facial traits to infer character qualities

Etymology: "Physiognomically" is simply "physiognomical" with the adjective ending "-ly" added to turn it into an adverb, meaning in a manner relating to physiognomy. The adjective is itself formed from "physiognomy," the older English word for judging character from facial features, which came into English from Old French "phisonomie" and ultimately from Late Latin "physiognomia," a borrowing of Greek "physiognōmonia," the study of a person's nature from their physical appearance. Built this way, the word describes an approach or method rather than a fact about a face. Something done physiognomically is done by reading a person's features as clues to their character, a practice that people have treated with varying degrees of seriousness across the centuries.