asymmetry

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀσυμμετρία (asummetría, “lack of proportion; incommensurability”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} from ἀσύμμετρος (asúmmetros, “having no common measure; disproportionate”),^[2][3][6][4] formed from the privative prefix ἀ- (a-, “not”) and σύμμετρος (súmmetros, “commensurable”),^[3][6][4] the adjective behind symmetry.^[3][6][2] It can also be analysed as a- added to symmetry.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In mathematics, the relation of two quantities that have no common measure, incommensurability: before 1652, in J. Smith's Select Discourse, published in 1660.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1650s, and Dictionary.com to 1645–55.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The mathematical sense, the first in English, is now obsolete;^[2][8][4] the Shorter Oxford dates it from the mid-17th to the late 18th century.^[8] The general sense, lack of symmetry or disproportion between things or parts, is recorded from 1664, in J. Evelyn's translation of R. Fréart's Parallel.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave both senses, the general one first, quoting Grew on the asymmetries of the brain.^[9] In chemistry the word has been used since 1875 for a lack of symmetry in the arrangement of atoms in a molecule.^[2][8]

Timeline

• before 1652 – in mathematics, incommensurability (now obsolete).^[2]
• 1664 – lack of symmetry, disproportion.^[2]
• 1875 – in chemistry, a lack of symmetry in the arrangement of atoms in a molecule.^[2][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Lack of symmetry or proportion between the parts of a thing: the asymmetry of her face.^[10][4][2]
2. Lack of symmetry in mathematical or logical relations.^[10][4]
3. (chemistry) Lack of symmetry in the arrangement of atoms or groups in a molecule.^[2][8]
4. (obsolete, mathematics) Incommensurability, the lack of a common measure between two quantities.^[2][8][4][9]

Related words

• symmetry
• dissymmetry
• asymmetric
• asymmetrical

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins