symbol

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A thing that stands for or represents an idea, quality, or feeling.

   The dove is a well-known symbol of peace.

2. 2
   noun

   A written or printed sign that has an agreed meaning, such as a letter, mark, or character.

   The symbol "$" stands for the US dollar.

3. 3
   noun

   A person or thing seen as the perfect example of something.

   The lion is often used as a symbol of courage.

4. 4
   verb

   To act as a symbol of something; to symbolize.

   For many people, the broken wall came to symbol freedom.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Symbol entered late Middle English from Latin symbolum, “symbol” or “creed,” ultimately from Greek sumbolon, “mark” or “token.” Its first English use referred specifically to the Apostles’ Creed, but nonreligious senses had developed by the late 16th century.

From French symbole, from Latin symbolus, symbolum (“a sign, mark, token, symbol, in Late Latin also a creed”), from Ancient Greek σύμβολον (súmbolon, “a sign by which one infers something; a mark, token, badge, ticket, tally, check, a signal, watchword, outward sign”), from συμβάλλω (sumbállō, “to throw together, dash together, compare, correspond, tally, come to a conclusion”), from σύν (sún, “with, together”) + βάλλω (bállō, “to throw, put”).

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary