symmetry
English
Etymology
From Latin symmetria, from Ancient Greek συμμετρία (summetría), from σύμμετρος (súmmetros, “symmetrical”), from σύν (sún, “with”) + μέτρον (métron, “measure”). Synchronically, syn- + -metry.
Pronunciation
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|lang=parameter) IPA(key): /ˈsɪmɪtɹi/[1]
Noun
symmetry (countable and uncountable, plural symmetries)
- Exact correspondence on either side of a dividing line, plane, center or axis.
- (uncountable) The satisfying arrangement of a balanced distribution of the elements of a whole.
- 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest[1]:
- She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry.
Related terms
Translations
correspondence on either side of a dividing line, plane, center or axis
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satisfying arrangement of a balanced distribution of the elements of a whole
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References
- ^ In poetic usage, symmetry is sometimes pronounced sĭʹmĭtrī, as, for example, in the first verse of William Blake’s “The Tyger” in Songs of Experience (1794):
Tyger Tyger, burning bright, // In the forests of the night: // What immortal hand or eye, // Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
Categories:
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English terms prefixed with syn-
- English terms suffixed with -metry
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations