Algebraic

How to spell algebraic

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce algebraic

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does algebraic mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to or involving algebra, the branch of mathematics that uses symbols and letters to represent numbers and quantities.

Algebraic in a sentence

• The exam included several algebraic equations to solve.

• She rewrote the formula in a simpler algebraic form.

Where does algebraic come from?

Language of origin: Arabic

This word descends, surprisingly, from the Arabic phrase al-jabr, which literally meant 'the reunion of broken parts' or 'the restoration', a term a surgeon might also have used for setting a broken bone. It comes from the title of a ninth-century treatise by the Persian mathematician al-Khwarizmi, whose work on solving equations described moving and balancing terms across an equation as a kind of restoring. Medieval Latin scholars adopted the term as algebra, and it spread through Italian and Spanish into the wider European languages before reaching English in the sixteenth century. The adjective 'algebraic' was then formed in English by adding the familiar Latin-derived suffix -ic, meaning 'relating to'. The 'al-' at the front is the Arabic definite article 'the', the same element you can spot in words like alcohol and alchemy. Remembering that origin helps with the spelling: it is alge-bra plus -ic, with no extra vowel before the final c.

How the word is built

• algebra (from Arabic al-jabr: the reunion of broken parts)
• -ic (adjective suffix: relating to)