Wiktionary

symbol

See also: Symbol

English

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English Wikipedia has articles on:
Wikipedia Wikipedia

Etymology

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Symbols of various religions.

From French symbole, from Latin symbolus, symbolum (“a sign, mark, token, symbol, in Late Latin also a creed”), from Ancient Greek σύμβολον (súmbolon, “a sign by which one infers something; a mark, token, badge, ticket, tally, check, a signal, watchword, outward sign”), from συμβάλλω (sumbállō, “I throw together, dash together, compare, correspond, tally, come to a conclusion”), from σύν (sún, “with, together”) βάλλω (bállō, “I throw, put”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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symbol (plural symbols)

  2. A character or glyph representing an idea, concept or object.
    "$" is the symbol for dollars in the US and some other countries.
    Chinese people use word symbols for writing.
  4. A thing considered the embodiment or cardinal exemplar of a concept, theme, or other thing.
    The lion is the symbol of courage; the lamb is the symbol of meekness or patience.
  6. (linguistics) A type of noun whereby the form refers to the same entity independently of the context; a symbol arbitrarily denotes a referent. See also icon and index.
  8. A summary of a dogmatic statement of faith.
    The Apostles, Nicene Creed and the confessional books of Protestantism, such as the Augsburg Confession of Lutheranism are considered symbols.
  10. (crystallography) The numerical expression which defines a plane's position relative to the assumed axes.
  12. (obsolete) That which is thrown into a common fund; hence, an appointed or accustomed duty.
    • 1651–1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC:
      They do their work in the days of peace […] and come to pay their symbol in a war or in a plague.
  14. (obsolete) Share; allotment.
    • 1651–1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC:
      The persons who are to be judged […] shall all appear to receive their symbol.
  16. (programming) An internal identifier used by a debugger to relate parts of the compiled program to the corresponding names in the source code.
  18. (telecommunications) A signalling event on a communications channel; a signal that cannot be further divided into meaningful information.

Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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symbol (third-person singular simple present symbols, present participle symboling or symbolling, simple past and past participle symboled or symbolled)

  1. To symbolize.
    • 1877, Alfred Tennyson, Harold: A Drama, London: Henry S. King & Co., →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 128:
      […] They told me that the Holy Rood had lean'd / And bow'd above me; […] / [I]f it bow'd, whether it symbol'd ruin / Or glory, who shall tell?

Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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Czech

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin symbolum.

Noun

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symbol m inan

  1. symbol

Declension

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Declension of symbol (hard masculine inanimate)
singular plural
nominative symbol symboly
genitive symbolu symbolů
dative symbolu symbolům
accusative symbol symboly
vocative symbole symboly
locative symbolu symbolech
instrumental symbolem symboly
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Further reading

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  • “symbol”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
  • “symbol”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

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Etymology

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From Ancient Greek σύμβολον (súmbolon, “a sign by which one infers something; a mark, token, badge, ticket, tally, check, a signal, watchword, outward sign”), via Latin symbolum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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symbol n (singular definite symbolet, plural indefinite symboler)

  1. symbol

Inflection

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Declension of symbol
neuter
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative symbol symbolet symboler symbolerne
genitive symbols symbolets symbolers symbolernes

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Etymology

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From Ancient Greek σύμβολον (súmbolon) via Latin symbolum.

Noun

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symbol n (definite singular symbolet, indefinite plural symbol or symboler, definite plural symbola or symbolene)

  1. a symbol

Derived terms

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References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Etymology

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From Ancient Greek σύμβολον (súmbolon) via Latin symbolum.

Noun

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symbol n (definite singular symbolet, indefinite plural symbol, definite plural symbola)

  1. a symbol

Derived terms

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References

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Polish

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Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Etymology

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Borrowed from French symbole, from Latin symbolum, from Ancient Greek σῠ́μβολον (súmbolon).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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symbol m inan

  1. symbol

Declension

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Declension of symbol
singular plural
nominative symbol symbole
genitive symbolu symboli/symbolów
dative symbolowi symbolom
accusative symbol symbole
instrumental symbolem symbolami
locative symbolu symbolach
vocative symbolu symbole

Derived terms

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adjectives
nouns
verbs

Further reading

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  • symbol in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • symbol in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Swedish

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Etymology

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From Latin symbolum, cognate with English symbol. Compare also Danish symbol, Norwegian Nynorsk symbol, and Norwegian Bokmål symbol.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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symbol c

  1. symbol

Declension

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Declension of symbol
nominative genitive
singular indefinite symbol symbols
definite symbolen symbolens
plural indefinite symboler symbolers
definite symbolerna symbolernas

Derived terms

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References

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Welsh

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From English symbol, from French symbole, from Latin symbolus, symbolum (“a sign, mark, token, symbol, in Late Latin also a creed”), from Ancient Greek σύμβολον (súmbolon, “a sign by which one infers something; a mark, token, badge, ticket, tally, check, a signal, watchword, outward sign”).

Pronunciation

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Usage notes

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Being a word borrowed from English derived from Greek, the y in symbol is pronounced /ɨ̞, ɪ/ rather than expected /ə/. To preserve consistency between pronunciation and spelling, some prefer to spell this word sumbol. Nevertheless, symbol is the more common spelling of the two. See pyramid/puramid, synthesis/sunthesis, system/sustem for similar examples.

Noun

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symbol m (plural symbolau, not mutable)

  1. symbol

Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “symbol”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
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