Symmetrical

How to spell symmetrical

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce symmetrical

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does symmetrical mean?

1. adjectiveHaving balanced, matching proportions, so that one half mirrors the other.

Symmetrical in a sentence

• The architect designed a perfectly symmetrical facade with matching windows on each side.

• A butterfly has a symmetrical pattern, with each wing repeating the other.

Where does symmetrical come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek symmetria, which literally meant 'measured together' or 'shared measure', built from syn 'together' and metron 'a measure'. To the ancient Greeks the idea carried a strong sense of proportion and harmony, the pleasing balance of parts that artists and architects aimed for. It passed into Latin as symmetria and then into English through French and Latin scholarship during the 1500s, first describing the agreeable proportion of buildings and bodies. The adjective 'symmetrical' grew from the noun and gradually took on its modern geometric meaning, in which two halves mirror each other exactly. The same metron 'measure' root sits inside everyday relatives such as 'metre', 'thermometer' and 'geometry', and the double m, which surprises many writers, comes straight from the way syn assimilated before the m of metron.

How the word is built

• sym- (from syn-: together, with)
• metr (from metron: measure)
• -ical (adjective suffix)