symptom

B1 Topic:Health & Medicine

US /ˈsɪm(p)təm/ See IPA manual

Freq #14606

Meanings

1

noun
A sign of an illness that a person feels or notices, such as pain or a fever.

A high fever is a common symptom of the flu.
2

noun
A sign that something, often something bad, exists or is happening.

Rising prices are a symptom of a struggling economy.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

indication manifestation sign signal

Word family

Forms symptoms

Derived forms blipssymptomatologysymptomless

Related forms asymptomaticasymptotesymptomatic

Etymology

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”).

*sem- Proto-Indo-European σύμπτωμα Ancient Greek

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# symptom

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈsɪm(p)təm/
**Frequency rank:** 14606

## Meanings
1. A sign of an illness that a person feels or notices, such as pain or a fever.
2. A sign that something, often something bad, exists or is happening.

## Examples
- A high fever is a common symptom of the flu.
- Rising prices are a symptom of a struggling economy.

## Synonyms
- indication
- manifestation
- sign
- signal

## Derived Forms
- blips
- symptomatology
- symptomless

## Related Forms
- asymptomatic
- asymptote
- symptomatic

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *sem-
- Root: σύμπτωμα
- Affix: sym- - with

## Etymology
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”).

## AI Etymology
Symptom is 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”). In present-day use, it can mean a sign of an illness that a person feels or notices, such as pain or a fever, or a sign that something, often something bad, exists or is happening.

## Topics
- Health & Medicine

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symptom

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