symmetry English · revision 391

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈsɪm.ɪ.tɹi/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|symmétrie]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) or directly [[bor|la|symmetria]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(Hoad 1986) [[der|grc|συμμετρία|tr=summetría|t=agreement in dimensions, due proportion]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(Hoad 1986) from ''súmmetros'' “having a common measure, proportionate”,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) [[af|grc|σύν|μέτρον|tr1=sún|tr2=métron|t1=together|t2=measure]].^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The mutual relation of the parts of something in size and position; proportion (1563), a sense now obsolete.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By 1599 the word meant a due or harmonious arrangement of parts, especially the proper proportion of the human body according to a canon, and hence beauty of form.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) It was soon applied to buildings and artificial things (1601) and to abstract things such as thought and literary composition (1603).^(OED 1989) The scientific sense, exact correspondence of parts on either side of a dividing line or plane or about a centre or axis, developed in the early 19th century, by 1823 in botany.^(Etymonline)^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) ''Symmetrical'' dates from 1751.^(Barnhart 1995) In poetry, as in Blake's “fearful symmetry”, the word was sometimes made to rhyme with ''eye''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1563 – proportion, relation of parts.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1599 – harmonious proportion, beauty of form.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1751 – ''symmetrical''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1823 – correspondence about a median plane (botany).^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Exact correspondence of form and arrangement of parts on opposite sides of a dividing line or plane, or about a centre or [[axis]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Balanced or due proportion, or the beauty arising from it; [[harmony]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A relationship of correspondence or equivalence among the parts of a whole or between different things.^(AHD)^(RHWU)

+ # ''(mathematics)'' A regularity of a mathematical object that is preserved under some transformation.^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[antisymmetry]]

+ * [[dissymmetry]]

+ * [[pseudosymmetry]]

+ * [[supersymmetry]]

+ * [[symmetrical]]

+ * [[symmetrize]]

+ * [[axis of symmetry]]

+ * [[bilateral symmetry]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[asymmetric]]

+ * [[asymmetry]]

+ * [[meter]]

+ * [[measure]]

+ * [[geometry]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}