Symmetry

How to spell symmetry

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce symmetry

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does symmetry mean?

1. nounThe quality of having matching, balanced parts on either side of a dividing line or point.

Symmetry in a sentence

• The architect designed the facade with perfect symmetry around the central door.

• A butterfly shows clear symmetry between its left and right wings.

Where does symmetry come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek symmetria, which literally meant 'measured together' or 'due proportion', built from syn 'together, with' and metron 'a measure'. To the Greeks the term carried a sense of balanced commensurability, the idea that the parts of a thing relate to each other in correct proportion. It passed into Latin as symmetria and then reached English in the late 1500s, partly through French, first as a term in art and architecture for harmonious balance before it sharpened into the modern geometric meaning of matching halves. The same metron root sits inside everyday words like metre and thermometer, which is a useful reminder that the tricky middle of symmetry is spelled with -metr-. The doubled m, from the assimilation of syn before m, is the other classic spelling trap.

How the word is built

• sym- (together, from syn)
• metr (measure, from metron)
• -y (noun suffix)