abscissa

English

Etymology

By ellipsis from Latin [linea] abscissa, feminine of abscissus, perfect passive participle of abscindō (cut off). See abscind.

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /æbˈsɪs.ə/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Hyphenation: ab‧scis‧sa

Noun

abscissa (plural abscissas or abscissae or abscissæ)

  1. (geometry) The first of the two terms by which a point is referred to, in a system of fixed rectilinear coordinate (Cartesian coordinate) axes. [First attested in the late 17th century.][1]
    Coordinate term: ordinate
    The point has 3 as its abscissa and 2 as its ordinate.
  2. (geometry) The horizontal line representing an axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, on which the abscissa (sense above) is shown.
    Coordinate term: ordinate

Usage notes

Originally, it referred to the portion of a line between a fixed point on that line and the intersection of that line with an ordinate.[1]

Synonyms

Hypernyms

Translations

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abscissa”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 8.

Latin

Etymology 1

From abscissus, perfect passive participle of abscindō (tear away).

Pronunciation 1

Noun

abscissa f (genitive abscissae); first declension

  1. (New Latin, mathematics) abscissa
Declension

First-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative abscissa abscissae
genitive abscissae abscissārum
dative abscissae abscissīs
accusative abscissam abscissās
ablative abscissā abscissīs
vocative abscissa abscissae
Descendants
  • English: abscissa
  • Irish: aibsíse
  • Norwegian Bokmål: abscisse
  • Portuguese: abscissa
  • Italian: ascissa

Pronunciation 2

Noun

abscissā f

  1. ablative singular of abscissa

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Participle

abscissa

  1. inflection of abscissus:
    1. nominative/vocative feminine singular
    2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

Participle

abscissā

  1. ablative feminine singular of abscissus

Portuguese

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

 
  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /a.biˈsi.sɐ/, /abˈsi.sɐ/
    • (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /abˈsi.sa/, /a.biˈsi.sa/

  • Hyphenation: abs‧cis‧sa

Noun

abscissa f (plural abscissas) (Brazilian Portuguese spelling)

  1. (geometry) abscissa (first of two coordinates)
    Coordinate term: ordenada

Swedish

Noun

abscissa c

  1. alternative spelling of abskissa; abscissa

Declension