Abuse by an intimate partner (marital or spousal abuse) and coercion are the two most globallyrnprevalent forms of violence against women. However community based studies on this subject isrnlimited. In Ethiopia there is also little research work in the area of physical partner violence. Thernobjective of this study is to measure the magnitude of physical violence experienced by marriedrnwomen; men own use of physical violence, factors associated with experience of physicalrnviolence, its immediate outcomes and describe cultural and societal perspectives of partnerrnviolence. Community based cross sectional survey was conducted with complementary FocusrnGroup Discussions in Kofele district, Arsi zone, Oromia region. Households were selected withrnsystematic random sampling from randomly selected Peasant associations. Married adult menrnage 15 years and above & women aged 15-49 years, living in the households sampled werernincluded in the study. A field-tested, structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used to collectrnthe information for the quantitative study and semi-structured guideline was used for focus grouprndiscussions. A total of 400 men and 396 women participated in the study. The majority of thernstudy participants (99.75 % of men and 94.7% of women) belong to Oromo ethnic group. Aboutrn64% and 55% of women had experienced physical violence in their life time and last 12monthsrnbefore survey respectively and 59% and 22% of men reported to use physical violence againstrntheir most recent partners in lifetime and last year respectively. Women's experience of partnerrnphysical violence is associated with presence of other person in the household (OR &rn95%CI=0.6(0.39, 0.92), family history of violence( OR & 95% CI= 1.54( 1.01, 2.35), type ofrnmarital arrangement with current partner by abduction (OR & 95%CI= 3.96(1.58, 9.96)rncompared with those married with their agreement), number of children less than five years agernin the house hold (OR & 95%CI=3.6 (1.9, 7.0) for only one child & 1.89(1.1, 3.8) for three orrnmore children relative to no child in household), parity of women(OR & 95%CI=2.5(1.4, 4.7)rnfor 4-7 births relative to 0-3 births) and belief about whether battering woman who failed torncomplete her household works is acceptable (OR & 95%CI=2.0 (1.1, 3.5) for agreeing with thernsituation ). Physical partner violence is very high in the study area and is associated withrnavoidable factors. There are also important cultural practices useful in protecting women fromrnviolence in this study population. This calls for immediate interventions that include educationrnon gender roles, family relations and improving womenâ€™s reproductive health and supportingrnstructures for cases of violence and encouraging and maintaining supporting useful culturalrnpractices. (Key words: Abuse, Partner, Physical Violence, Culture )