Meanings
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noun
A system or process (especially one that is complex or convoluted) that substitutes one thing for another, or uses signs or symbols to represent concepts or ideas.
Fly ! Fly ! avaunt with that base cowardly gibbrish ; That Algebra of honour ; which had never Been nam'd, if all had equal courage—what?
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2
noun
The surgical treatment of a dislocated or fractured bone. Also (countable): a dislocation or fracture.
Ne take noon hede to brynge togidere þe parties of þe boon þat is to-broken or dislocate, til viij. daies ben goon in þe wyntir, & v. in þe somer; for þanne it schal make quytture, and be sikir from swellynge; & þanne brynge togidere þe brynkis eiþer þe disiuncture after þe techynge þat schal be seid in þe chapitle of algebra.
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noun
Abstract algebra: A broad field of study in modern mathematics (often mentioned alongside analysis) loosely characterized by its concern for abstraction and symmetry, dealing with the behavior, classification, and application of a large class of objects (called algebraic structures) and the maps between them (called, most generally, morphisms).
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See allSimplified etymology
Algebra entered English in the late 16th century from Arabic al-jabr, formed from al “the” and jabr “restoration of broken parts”; in mathematics this was understood as finding missing numbers.
Etymology
Etymology tree Arabic جَبَرَ (jabara) Arabic الْجَبْر (al-jabr)bor. Medieval Latin algebrabor. English algebra Borrowed from Medieval Latin algebra, from the Arabic الْجَبْر (al-jabr, “reunion, resetting of broken parts”) in the title of al-Khwarizmi's influential work الْكِتَاب الْمُخْتَصَر فِي حِسَاب الْجَبْر وَالْمُقَابَلَة (al-kitāb al-muḵtaṣar fī ḥisāb al-jabr wa-l-muqābala, “The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing”).