symptom

From Ancient Greek σύμπτωμα (súmptōma, “a happening, accident, symptom of disease”), from stem of συμπίπτω (sumpíptō, “Ι befall”), from συν- (sun-, “together”) + πίπτω (píptō, “I fall”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪm(p)təm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: symp‧tom

symptom (plural symptoms)

1. (medicine) A perceived change in some function, sensation or appearance of a person that indicates a disease or disorder, such as fever, headache or rash; strictly, a symptom is felt or experienced by the patient, while a sign can be detected by an observer.

   Swollen breasts, morning sickness, and a missed period are classic symptoms of pregnancy.

2. (figuratively) A signal; anything that indicates, or is characteristic of, the presence of something else, especially of something undesirable.

   Lying, hiding one's true feelings, and having affairs are typical symptoms of a doomed marriage.

   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 114–115:

     "Nay, nay," exclaimed Lord Norbourne, "I cannot go quite so far as that. I have, thanks to your hospitality, laid in a stock of health enough for the ensuing winter: but as to the general benevolence of which you talk, I confess I find no symptoms: if I did, they would alarm me more than those of the gout."

   • 2009, Charles Zastrow, Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare:

     Some people see birth outside of marriage as a social problem—a sign of a breakdown in the traditional family and a symptom of moral decay.

• indication
• manifestation
• sign, signal
• See also Thesaurus:symptom

• Treatment of symptoms versus treatment of cause

• asymptomatic
• asymptote
• symptomatic

• “symptom”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “symptom”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Borrowed from German Symptom^[1] from Ancient Greek σύμπτωμα (súmptōma, “a happening, accident, symptom of disease”), from stem of συμπίπτω (sumpíptō, “Ι befall”), from συν- (sun-, “together”) + πίπτω (píptō, “I fall”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈsɪmptom]
• IPA^(key): [ˈsɪmptoːm]

symptom m inan

1. symptom

   Synonym: příznak

• “symptom”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “symptom”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “symptom”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

symptom n (singular definite symptomet, plural indefinite symptomer)

1. symptom

• symptomfri

• symptomatisk

• “symptom” in Den Danske Ordbog

From Ancient Greek σύμπτωμα (súmptōma, “chance, casualty; symptom”), from συμπίπτω (sumpíptō, “Ι befall”) (with the suffix, -μα (-ma), from Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥), from both συν- (sun-, “with, together”), from σύν (sún, “beside, with”), from Proto-Indo-European *som-, from *sem- (“together, one”), or possibly from *ḱóm (“beside, near, by, with”), from *ḱe + and from πίπτω (píptō, “to fall”), from Proto-Indo-European *pípth₂-, from *peth₂- (“to spread out, fly”).

• IPA^(key): /sʏmpˈtuːm/
• Rhymes: -uːm
• Hyphenation: symp‧tom

symptom n (definite singular symptomet, indefinite plural symptom or symptomer, definite plural symptoma or symptomene)

1. symptom

• abstinenssymptom

symptom n (definite singular symptomet, indefinite plural symptom, definite plural symptoma)

1. symptom

Borrowed from French symptôme.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɘm.ptɔm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɘmptɔm
• Syllabification: sym‧ptom

symptom m inan

1. (literary, medicine) symptom (something that indicates a disease or disorder)

   Synonyms: objaw, zwiastun

2. (figurative, literary) symptom (indicator of something)

   Synonyms: objaw, oznaka, przejaw, sygnał, symptomat

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

In the Swedish language since 1730. From Ancient Greek σύμπτωμα (súmptōma, “a happening, accident, symptom of disease”).

symptom n

1. dated form of symtom (“symptom”)