Symbolとは意味・読み方・使い方

発音

• enPR: sĭmbəl, IPA^(key): /ˈsɪmbəl/
• 韻: -ɪmbəl
• ハイフネーション: sym‧bol
• Homophone: cymbal

名詞

symbol (複数形 symbols)

1. 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.

2. A thing considered the embodiment of a concept or object.

   The lion is the symbol of courage; the lamb is the symbol of meekness or patience.

3. (linguistics) 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.
4. 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.

5. (crystallography) The numerical expression which defines a plane's position relative to the assumed axes.
6. (obsolete) That which is thrown into a common fund; hence, an appointed or accustomed duty.
   • 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 1051524189:

     They do their work in the days of peace […] and come to pay their symbol in a war or in a plague.

7. (obsolete) Share; allotment.
   • 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 1051524189:

     The persons who are to be judged […] shall all appear to receive their symbol.

8. (programming) An internal identifier used by a debugger to relate parts of the compiled program to the corresponding names in the source code.
9. (telecommunications) A signalling event on a communications channel; a signal that cannot be further divided into meaningful information.

派生語

• status symbol
• typographical symbol

関連する語

• diabolical
• symbolic
• symbolize
• symbolism

動詞

symbol (三人称単数 現在形 symbols, 現在分詞 symboling または symbolling, 過去形および過去分詞形 symboled または symbolled)

1. To symbolize.
   • 1877, Alfred Tennyson, Harold: A Drama, London: Henry S. King & Co., OCLC 1246230498, Act V, scene i, page 128:

     […] 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?

参考

• punctuation

Further reading

• symbol in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• symbol in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911