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

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

withdrawal symptom
a physical or psychological disturbance occurring when someone stops a drug on which they depend

Noun + noun

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

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Health & Medicine

External links

# 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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