Entries linking to asymmetry
1560s, "relation of parts, proportion," a sense now obsolete, from French symmétrie (16c.) and directly from Latin symmetria, from Greek symmetria "agreement in dimensions, due proportion, arrangement," from symmetros "having a common measure, even, proportionate." This is from assimilated form of syn- "together" (see syn-) + metron "measure" (from PIE root *me- (2) "to measure").
The meaning "a due, just, or harmonic arrangement of parts" is attested by 1590s, especially in reference to the proper proportion and commensurability of the parts of the human body, according to a canon, hence "beauty of form."
The scientific sense of "metrical correspondence and mirror image of parts in reference to a median plane" is by 1823 in botany, zoology, etc.
prefix meaning "not, without," from Greek a-, an- "not" (the "alpha privative"), from PIE root *ne- "not" (source also of English un-).
In words from Greek, such as abysmal, adamant, amethyst; also partly nativized as a prefix of negation (asexual, amoral, agnostic). The ancient alpha privatum, denoting want or absence.
Greek also had an alpha copulativum, a- or ha-, expressing union or likeness, which is the a- expressing "together" in acolyte, acoustic, Adelphi, etc. It is from PIE root *sem- (1) "one; as one, together with."
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updated on September 28, 2017
Dictionary entries near asymmetry
Astyanax
asunder
asylee
asylum
asymmetrical
asymmetry
asymptomatic
asymptote
asymptotic
asynchronous
asyndetic