symptomatic

Etymology

It is borrowed from French symptomatique, or directly borrowed from Late Latin symptōmaticus,^[2][3][4] from symptōma (“symptom”);^[2][3][5][6] Merriam-Webster forms it from the Latin stem with the English suffix -ic.^[5] The OED and Klein compare Ancient Greek συμπτωματικός (sumptōmatikós, “exposed to chance, accidental”).^[2][6] The Latin noun comes from σύμπτωμα (súmptōma, “a chance occurrence, mishap”),^[6][3] from συμπίπτω (sumpíptō, “to fall together, befall, happen”), from σύν (sún, “with, together”) and πίπτω (píptō, “to fall”);^[6][3] Klein traces the verb to the zero grade of Proto-Indo-European *pet- (“to fly, to fall”).^[6] An earlier symptomatical is recorded from the 1580s.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the nature of a symptom of disease, especially of a secondary disease arising from a primary one: 1698, in J. Floyer's Treatise of Asthma.^[2][5][3] The Shorter Oxford describes the first medical sense as "secondary, not idiopathic", now rare or obsolete.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From medicine the word spread to a general sense, "indicating some condition or quality", recorded from 1751 in Smollett's Peregrine Pickle,^[2][3] and the construction with of followed in 1814.^[2] The sense "relating to symptoms" dates from 1767.^[2] Dickens in Bleak House (1853) used it for "symbolic", a confusion the OED notes.^[2] A noun, symptomatics, meaning symptomatology, appears in Smollett in 1748.^[2][4] In 20th-century medicine it was applied to a patient showing the symptoms of a disease (1966).^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1580s – symptomatical.^[3]
• 1698 – being a symptom of disease.^[2][5][3]
• 1748 – noun, symptomatology.^[2]
• 1751 – indicative or characteristic of something.^[2][3]
• 1767 – relating to symptoms.^[2]
• 1814 – followed by of.^[2]
• 1853 – misused for symbolic, in Dickens.^[2]
• 1966 – of a patient, showing symptoms of a disease.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Being a symptom of a disease or disorder: a rash symptomatic of measles.^[7][5][2]
2. (often with of) Serving as a sign of something; indicative or characteristic: The empty shops were symptomatic of a wider decline.^[7][5][2]
3. Relating to or concerned with symptoms; directed at symptoms rather than causes: symptomatic relief.^[7][5][2]
4. Of a patient, showing the symptoms of a disease.^[2][4]
5. (medicine) Having the features of a particular disease but arising from another cause; secondary, not idiopathic.^[5][4]

Word family

• symptomatically
• nonsymptomatic
• unsymptomatic
• asymptomatic
• presymptomatic

Related words

• symptom
• symptomatology

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins