Algebra

How to spell algebra

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce algebra

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does algebra mean?

1. nounThe branch of mathematics in which letters and symbols represent numbers and quantities in formulae and equations.

Algebra in a sentence

• The evening course covers basic algebra before moving on to calculus.

• She helped her son rearrange the equation using simple algebra.

Where does algebra come from?

Language of origin: Arabic

Algebra comes from the Arabic phrase 'al-jabr', which literally meant 'the reunion of broken parts' or 'the restoration'. It was lifted from the title of a ninth-century treatise, 'Kitab al-jabr wa'l-muqabala', written by the mathematician al-Khwarizmi in Baghdad; the word described the operation of moving terms across an equation to balance and restore it. The same root once carried a surgical sense too, since 'al-jabr' could mean the setting of broken bones, and in medieval Spanish an 'algebrista' was a bonesetter. The term travelled into medieval Latin and then into English in the sixteenth century, keeping the Arabic article 'al' fused to the front. That fused 'al' is the key to the spelling, since the word is really 'the jabr', which also explains why so many science words (alchemy, alcohol, alkali) share that same Arabic opening.

How the word is built

• al- (Arabic definite article 'the')
• jabr (reunion, restoration of broken parts)