physnomie

Noun

physiognomy (countable and uncountable, plural physiognomies)

1. The art or pseudoscience of deducing the predominant temper and other characteristic qualities of the mind from the outward appearance, especially from the features of the face.
   • Known still less than Della Porta is the figure of Camillo Baldi, an early-seventeenth-century Bolognese physician and university professor who advanced the discussion from the study of physiognomy and skull sizes to the study of characteriology based on writing. I am still not sure what to make of...2016, Brendan Dooley, Angelica's Book and the World of Reading in Late Renaissance Italy

   Synonyms:

   face reading

2. The face or countenance, with respect to the temper of the mind; particular configuration, cast, or expression of countenance, as denoting character.
   • Faith ſir a has an Engliſh maine, but his fiſnomie is more hotter in France then there.c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
3. The art of telling fortunes by inspection of the features.
4. The general appearance or aspect of a thing, without reference to its scientific characteristics.
   • the physiognomy of a plant; of a meteor