symbol

Syllables: sym·bol/ˈsɪmbəl/

symbol noun: a character or glyph representing an idea, concept or object.

Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

symbol (plural symbols)

A character or glyph representing an idea, concept or object.
- "$" is the symbol for dollars in the US and some other countries.
- Chinese people use word symbols for writing.
A thing considered the embodiment or cardinal exemplar of a concept, theme, or other thing.
- The lion is the symbol of courage; the lamb is the symbol of meekness or patience.
A type of noun whereby the form refers to the same entity independently of the context; a symbol arbitrarily denotes a referent. See also icon and index.
A summary of a dogmatic statement of faith.
- The Apostles, Nicene Creed and the confessional books of Protestantism, such as the Augsburg Confession of Lutheranism are considered symbols.
The numerical expression which defines a plane's position relative to the assumed axes.
(obsolete) That which is thrown into a common fund; hence, an appointed or accustomed duty.
- They do their work in the days of peace […] and come to pay their symbol in a war or in a plague.1651–1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC
(obsolete) Share; allotment.
- The persons who are to be judged […] shall all appear to receive their symbol.1651–1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC
An internal identifier used by a debugger to relate parts of the compiled program to the corresponding names in the source code.
A signalling event on a communications channel; a signal that cannot be further divided into meaningful information.

Verb

symbol (third-person singular simple present symbols, present participle (US) symboling or (UK) symbolling, simple past and past participle (US) symboled or (UK) symbolled)

To symbolize.
- […] They told me that the Holy Rood had lean'd / And bow'd above me; […] / [I]f it bow'd, whether it symbol'd ruin / Or glory, who shall tell?1877, Alfred Tennyson, Harold: A Drama, London: Henry S. King & Co., →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 128

symbol meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

symbol in Hindi

object meant to represent another: प्रतीक pratīk
character or glyph: प्रतीक pratīk, चिह्न cihna, संकेत saṅket, निशान niśān

symbol in Tamil

object meant to represent another: குறியீடு kuṟiyīṭu
character or glyph: சின்னம் ciṉṉam

symbol in Urdu

character or glyph: عَلامَت 'alāmat, نِشان niśān, اِشارَہ iśāra, رَمْز ramz

More languagesFewer languages

symbol in Bengali: প্রতীক protik, সঙ্কেত śoṅket, চিহ্ন cihno
symbol in Malayalam: അടയാളം aṭayāḷaṁ, പ്രതീകം pratīkaṁ, ചിഹ്നം cihnaṁ
symbol in Kannada: ಹೆಜ್ಜೆ hejje
symbol in Punjabi: ਚਿੰਨ੍ਹ cinnh
symbol in Sanskrit: चिह्न cihna, प्रतीक pratīka, सङ्केत saṅketa
symbol in Sinhala: සංකේතය
symbol in Assamese: চিন sin
symbol in Pashto: سمبول samból, رمز ramz, سيمبال simbãl
symbol in Tagalog: simboló, sagisag, simbolo
symbol in Arabic: رَمْز ramz, شَارَة šāra, شِعَار šiʕār, عَلَامَة ʕalāma
symbol in Malay: lambang, simbol
symbol in Thai: สัญลักษณ์ sǎn-yá-lák
symbol in Vietnamese: ký hiệu, biểu tượng
symbol in Myanmar: အထိမ်းအမှတ် a.htim:a.hmat, သင်္ကေတ sangketa.

Examples of symbol in a sentence

Compare two Unicode symbols: ☞ (“WHITE RIGHT POINTING INDEX”); ☛ (“BLACK RIGHT POINTING INDEX”).
Yes, we have to convert all the symbol names to upper case at startup, but that’s epsilon.
The strongest passwords are those which mix numbers and letters, upper case and lower case, and symbols.

All 40 example sentences with symbol

Forms of symbol

Noun
plural	symbols
Verb
third-person singular present	symbols
present participle US	symboling
present participle UK	symbolling
past participle US	symboled
past US	symboled
past participle UK	symbolled
past UK	symbolled

Plural of symbol: symbols

Origin of symbol

From French symbole, from Latin symbolus, symbolum (“a sign, mark, token, symbol, in Late Latin also a creed”), from Ancient Greek σύμβολον (súmbolon, “a sign by which one infers something; a mark, token, badge, ticket, tally, check, a signal, watchword, outward sign”), from συμβάλλω (sumbállō, “to throw together, dash together, compare, correspond, tally, come to a conclusion”), from σύν (sún, “with, together”) + βάλλω (bállō, “to throw, put”).

Words formed from symbol

Phrases with symbol

Words that rhyme with symbol

Questions about symbol

What does symbol mean?: Symbol means a character or glyph representing an idea, concept or object.
What is symbol in Hindi?: Symbol in Hindi is प्रतीक (pratīk), चिह्न (cihna), संकेत (saṅket). See Symbol meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is symbol?: Symbol can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce symbol?: Symbol is pronounced /ˈsɪmbəl/.
What is the plural of symbol?: The plural of symbol is symbols.

Words near symbol in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: symbol (page history and authors); ಹೆಜ್ಜೆ (Kannada) (page history and authors); symbol (Sinhala Wiktionary) (page history and authors); চিন (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-symbol.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-symbol.wav.

Cite this entry: “symbol.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/symbol. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.