symptom

From Middle English sinthoma, from Medieval Latin sinthoma, altered by Late Latin symptoma, from Ancient Greek σύμπτωμα (súmptōma, “a happening, accident, symptom of disease”), from stem of συμπίπτω (sumpíptō, “Ι befall”), from συν- (sun-, “together”) + πίπτω (píptō, “to fall”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪm(p)təm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sym‧ptom

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.

   The doctor told that his coughing and sneezing was the symptom of standing for too long in the rain.

   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

• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “symptom”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• “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, “to 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), 2008–2026

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^[1] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “symptom”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[2] (in Polish)

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”)