Standard Lemma guide

symptom

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈsɪm(p)təm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S IH1 M P T AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A perceived change in some function, sensation or appearance of a person that indicates a disease or disorder, such as fever, headache or rash; strictly, a symptom is felt or experienced by the patient, while a sign can be detected by an observer.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: medicine, sciences

Examples

  • The doctor told that his coughing and sneezing was the symptom of standing for too long in the rain.
  • Swollen breasts, morning sickness, and a missed period are classic symptoms of pregnancy.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A signal; anything that indicates, or is characteristic of, the presence of something else, especially of something undesirable.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

Examples

  • Lying, hiding one's true feelings, and having affairs are typical symptoms of a doomed marriage.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

anything that accompanies X and is regarded as an indication of X's existence

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: indication, indicant

4

noun

Meaning 4

(medicine) any sensation or change in bodily function that is experienced by a patient and is associated with a particular disease

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: evidence, grounds

Narrower terms: crepitation rale, menorrhagia, hypermenorrhea, alkalinuria, alkaluria, eosinopenia, hemoglobinemia, haemoglobinemia, hemoptysis, haemoptysis, lipemia, lipaemia, lipidemia, lipidaemia, lipoidemia, lipoidaemia, hyperlipemia, hyperlipaemia, hyperlipidemia, hyperlipidaemia, hyperlipoidemia, hyperlipoidaemia, albuminuria, proteinuria, aminoaciduria, ammoniuria, Jacquemier's sign, Kayser-Fleischer ring, keratomalacia, Kernig's sign, ketonemia, ketosis, acetonemia, Koplik's spots, glycosuria, lymphuria, monocytosis, thrombocytosis, ochronosis, hypercalcemia, hypercalcaemia, hypocalcemia, hypocalcaemia, hypercalciuria, hypercalcinuria, hypercholesterolemia, hypercholesteremia, hyperkalemia, hypokalemia, kaliuresis, kaluresis, natriuresis, hypoproteinemia, hypernatremia, hyponatremia, hypersplenism, ketonuria, ketoaciduria, acetonuria, amenorrhea, amenorrhoea, amenia, aura, chloasma, melasma, mask of pregnancy, clubbing, cyanosis, diuresis, prodrome, prodroma, syndrome, effect, abscess, purulence, purulency, exophthalmos, festination, furring, hematuria, haematuria, hemoglobinuria, haemoglobinuria, hemosiderosis, haemosiderosis, nebula, sneeze, sneezing, sternutation, swelling, puffiness, lump, bubo, palsy, pyuria, hyperglycemia, hyperglycaemia, hypoglycemia, hypoglycaemia, jaundice, icterus, congestion, eruption, numbness, pain, hurting, paresthesia, paraesthesia, postnasal drip, cardiomegaly, megalocardia, megacardia, enlarged heart, heart murmur, cardiac murmur, murmur, palpitation, heartburn, pyrosis, hot flash, flush, indigestion, dyspepsia, stomach upset, upset stomach, inflammation, redness, rubor, chill, shivering, ague, chills and fever, cough, coughing, hiccup, hiccough, singultus, meningism, nausea, sickness, spasm, cramp, muscle spasm, scar, cicatrix, cicatrice, hardening, musca volitans, muscae volitantes, floater, spots, fever, febrility, febricity, pyrexia, feverishness, atrophy, wasting, wasting away, apnea, dyspnea, dyspnoea, constipation, irregularity, diarrhea, diarrhoea, looseness of the bowels, looseness, dizziness, giddiness, lightheadedness, vertigo, anemia, anaemia, wheeziness, withdrawal symptom, hydrophobia, areflexia, myoglobinuria, oliguria, eosinophilia, rhinorrhea, steatorrhea, stridor, tinnitus, uratemia, uraturia, uricaciduria

History

Etymology

From Middle English sinthoma, from Medieval Latin sinthoma, altered by Late Latin symptoma, from Ancient Greek σύμπτωμα (súmptōma, “a happening, accident, symptom of disease”), from stem of συμπίπτω (sumpíptō, “Ι befall”), from συν- (sun-, “together”) + πίπτω (píptō, “to fall”). See also syn-, -oma, -ome.

Across languages

Translations

186 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: simptomë — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Arabic: عَرَض (ʕaraḍ) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Arabic: عَلَامَة (ʕalāma) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Armenian: ախտանիշ (axtaniš) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Asturian: síntoma — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Azerbaijani: علامت (ælāmæt) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Azerbaijani: simptom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Azerbaijani: əlamət — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Azerbaijani: nişanə — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Belarusian: сімпто́м (simptóm) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Belarusian: сымпто́м (symptóm) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Belarusian: адзна́ка (adznáka) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Bengali: লক্ষণ (lokkhon) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Bulgarian: симпто́м (simptóm) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Bulgarian: при́знак (príznak) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Burmese: လက္ခဏာ (lakhka.na) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Burmese: အဆင် (a.hcang) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Catalan: símptoma — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Chinese Mandarin: 症狀 /症状 (zhèngzhuàng) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Chinese Mandarin: 病徵 /病征 (bìngzhēng) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Chinese Mandarin: 病象 (bìngxiàng) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Chinese Mandarin: 病狀 /病状 (bìngzhuàng) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Chinese Mandarin: 症候 (zhènghòu) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Czech: příznak — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Czech: symptom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Danish: symptom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Dutch: symptoom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Esperanto: simptomo — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Estonian: sümptom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Finnish: oire — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • French: symptôme — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Georgian: სიმპტომი (simṗṭomi) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • German: Symptom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Greek: σύμπτωμα (sýmptoma) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Ancient Greek: σύμπτωμα (súmptōma) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Hebrew: תַּסְמִין (tasmín) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Hebrew: סִימְפּטוֹם (simptóm) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Hindi: लक्षण (lakṣaṇ) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Hindi: अलामत (alāmat) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Hungarian: tünet — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Hungarian: szimptóma — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Icelandic: einkenni — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Indonesian: gejala — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Indonesian: simtom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Italian: sintomo — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Japanese: 症状 (shōjō) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Japanese: 症候 (shōkō) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Kazakh: әйгіленіс (äigılenıs) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Kazakh: симптом (simptom) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Khmer: រោគសញ្ញា (rook saññaa) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Khmer: សញ្ញា (saññaa) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Korean: 증상 (jeungsang) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Korean: 증후 (jeunghu) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Northern Kurdish: berjeng — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Northern Kurdish: nişan — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Northern Kurdish: elamet — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Kyrgyz: симптом (simptom) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Lao: ອາການ (ʼā kān) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Latin: symptōma — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Latvian: simptoms — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Lithuanian: simptomas — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Lithuanian: požymis — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Macedonian: симптом (simptom) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Malay: gejala — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Malay: simptom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Māori: tohumate — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Māori: putanga — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Māori: tohu māuiui — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Mongolian: тэмдэг (temdeg) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Mongolian: шинж тэмдэг (šinž temdeg) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Niuean: fakamailoga — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Norwegian Bokmål: symptom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: symptom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Occitan: simptòma — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Pashto: علامه ('alāma) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Pashto: نشانه (nešāna) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Persian: عَلامَت ('alâmat) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Persian: نِشانِه (nešâne) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Persian: سَمپتوم (samptôm) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Polish: objaw — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Polish: symptom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Portuguese: sintoma — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Romanian: simptom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Russian: симпто́м (simptóm) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Russian: при́знак (príznak) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Serbo-Croatian: сѝмпто̄м — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Serbo-Croatian: sìmptōm — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Slovak: príznak — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Slovak: symptóm — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Slovene: simptom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Southern Altai: симптом (simptom) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Spanish: síntoma — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Swedish: symtom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Swedish: symptom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Tagalog: tandang-sakit — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Tagalog: pangitain — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Tajik: аломат (alomat) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Tajik: нишона (nišona) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Tajik: симптом (simptom) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Thai: อาการ (aa-gaan) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Turkish: semptom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Turkish: belgi — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Turkish: belirti — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Turkish: bulgu — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Ottoman Turkish: علامت (ʼalamet) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Ottoman Turkish: اعراضی (aʼrâzî) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Turkmen: alamat — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Turkmen: simptom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Ukrainian: симпто́м (symptóm) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Ukrainian: озна́ка (oznáka) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Urdu: عَلامَت ('alāmat) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Uyghur: ئالامەت (alamet) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Uyghur: سىمپتوم (simptom) — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Uzbek: simptom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Uzbek: alomat — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Uzbek: nishona — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Vietnamese: triệu chứng — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Vietnamese: chứng trạng — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Welsh: amlygiad — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Zazaki: semptom — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Zazaki: elemat — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Zazaki: asante — something that indicates a disease or disorder
  • Arabic: عَرَض (ʕaraḍ) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Asturian: síntoma — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Belarusian: адзна́ка (adznáka) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Belarusian: сімпто́м (simptóm) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Belarusian: сымпто́м (symptóm) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Belarusian: знак (znak) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Bulgarian: при́знак (príznak) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Bulgarian: симпто́м (simptóm) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Catalan: símptoma — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Chinese Mandarin: 徵兆 /征兆 (zhēngzhào) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Czech: příznak — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Dutch: symptoom — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Dutch: verschijnsel — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Esperanto: simptomo — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Estonian: sümptom — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Finnish: oire — figuratively: indicator of something
  • French: symptôme — figuratively: indicator of something
  • French: indice — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Galician: síntoma — figuratively: indicator of something
  • German: Symptom — figuratively: indicator of something
  • German: Anzeichen — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Greek: σύμπτωμα (sýmptoma) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Hebrew: תַּסְמִין (tasmín) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Hebrew: סִימְפּטוֹם (simptóm) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Hindi: लक्षण (lakṣaṇ) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Hungarian: tünet — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Indonesian: gejala — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Italian: sintomo — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Japanese: 記号 (kigō) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Japanese: 兆候 (chōkō) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Khmer: សញ្ញា (saññaa) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Korean: 징후 (jinghu) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Latvian: simptoms — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Malay: gejala — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Malay: simptom — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Malayalam: രോഗലക്ഷണം (rōgalakṣaṇaṁ) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Māori: putanga — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Occitan: simptòma — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Persian: سَمپتوم (samptôm) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Persian: اَثَر (asar) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Persian: عَرَض ('araz) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Polish: symptom — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Portuguese: sintoma — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Romanian: simptom — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Russian: при́знак (príznak) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Russian: симпто́м (simptóm) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Russian: знак (znak) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Slovak: príznak — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Slovene: znamenje — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Slovene: znak — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Southern Altai: симптом (simptom) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Spanish: síntoma — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Swedish: symtom — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Swedish: symptom — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Turkish: belirti — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Turkish: semptom — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Turkish: sendrom — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Turkish: araz — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Ukrainian: озна́ка (oznáka) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Ukrainian: симпто́м (symptóm) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Ukrainian: знак (znak) — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Vietnamese: triệu chứng — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Welsh: arwydd — figuratively: indicator of something
  • Zazaki: araz — figuratively: indicator of something