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, “I throw together, dash together, compare, correspond, tally, come to a conclusion”), from σύν (sún, “with, together”) + βάλλω (bállō, “I throw, put”).

der

(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.

(crystallography) The numerical expression which defines a plane's position relative to the assumed axes.

(programming) An internal identifier used by a debugger to relate parts of the compiled program to the corresponding names in the source code.


symbol

en-verb

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

symbols (present singular third-person)
symboling (participle present)
symbolling (participle present)
symboled (participle past)
symboled (past)
symbolled (participle past)
symbolled (past)

[…] 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:


asterisk

asterisks (plural)
asterisc (alternative)
asterix (alternative)

/ˈæstəˌɹɪsk/

The New York Times
The New York Times Company

The noun is derived from Middle English asterisk [and other forms], from Late Latin asteriscus (“asterisk; small star”), from Ancient Greek ἀστερῐ́σκος (asterĭ́skos, “asterisk; small star”), from ᾰ̓στήρ (ăstḗr, “celestial body (star, planet, and other lights in the sky such as meteors)”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs- (“to burn; to glow”)) + -ῐ́σκος (-ĭ́skos, diminutive suffix). Piecewise doublet of starrish.
Sense 1.1.2 (“something which is of little importance or which is marginal”) refers to the use of an asterisk to denote a footnote or marginal note in a text; in other words, information that is not important enough to be incorporated into the main text. Sense 1.1.3 (“blemish in an otherwise outstanding achievement”) refers to the use of an asterisk in a sporting record to indicate that the record is qualified in some manner (for example, that the sportsperson was found to have taken performance-enhancing drugs at the time).
The verb is derived from the noun.

tähti

small star; something resembling or shaped like a star

Using a crafting knife, cut a small asterisk shape in the center of each black circle. Gently pierce each asterisk with a wooden skewer to make a hole. Once done, simply insert your stove knobs, and you're almost ready!

2016, Courtney Sanchez, “Retro Stove”, in DIY Box Creations: Fun and Creative Projects to Make out of Really Big Boxes!, Lake Forest, Calif.: Walter Foster Jr., Quarto Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 48:

(dated) A small star; also (by extension), something resembling or shaped like a star.

The star-shaped symbol *, which is used in printing and writing for various purposes, including to refer a reader to a note at the bottom of a page or in a margin, and to indicate the omission of letters or words; a star.

Something resembling or shaped like an asterisk symbol.

asterisk

star-shaped symbol *; something resembling or shaped like an asterisk symbol

I don't want to be an asterisk in my kids' lives. I don't want to be just some guy who sporadically appears and then disappears again.

2016, Charles [Wesley] Marshall, “More SkyMiles, Less Family”, in The Good Dad Guide, Eugene, Or.: Harvest House Publishers, →ISBN, part 6 (Prevent), page 142:

The opposing view sees it as an abject failure and historically irrelevant. This verdict was neatly summed up by the New York Times financial columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin when he predicted, a year on from the event: "It will be an asterisk in the history books, if it gets a mention at all."

2021 September 12, Andrew Anthony, “‘We showed it was possible to create a movement from almost nothing’: Occupy Wall Street 10 years on”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-01-20:

(figuratively) Something which is of little importance or which is marginal; a footnote.

They came into the tournament highly ranked, but with a little bit of an asterisk as their last two wins had been unconvincing.

(US, sports, figuratively) A blemish in an otherwise outstanding achievement.

tahra

He is in the right to put the Aſteriſks, not the VVords into the text; becauſe They do indeed give us [notice, that there is in Them] as much additional meaning, as there vvould be in thoſe vvords vvhich they ſo properly repreſent.

1754, Thomas Edwards, “Canon XVIII. He may Explane His Author, or Any Former Editor of Him; by Supplying Such Words, or Pieces of Words, or Marks, as He Thinks Fit for that Purpose.”, in The Canons of Criticism, and Glossary; […], 6th edition, London: […] C. Bathurst, […], →OCLC, page 157:

I having been looking at your pamphlet, and shewing it, but I mention no names. I don't see the use of names, for my part, unless it be to put in asterisks. It is—yes—very, indeed.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Publishing”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 13:

There is no punctuation, but three signs are used, namely, 1st, the asterisc (※); 2nd, the obelus (—:); and 3rd, the two dots (:). The asteriscs indicate the words of the Hebrew text, not admitted by the Seventy into their Greek version, which words are included between the asterisc and the two dots; […]

[1849, M. J. B. Silvestre, “Plate LXI. Square Uncial Greek Writing. IVth. or Vth. Century. Fragments of the Greek Pentateuch, in the Bibliothèque Royale.”, in Frederic Madden, transl., Universal Palæography: Or, Fac-similes of Writings of All Nations and Periods, […], volume I, London: Henry G[eorge] Bohn, […], →OCLC, page 163:

The Hôtels marked with one asterisc are Restaurants also. Those marked with two asteriscs have Table d'Hôte.

1869, “Notices Useful to the Foreigner”, in One Week at Venice: Illustrated Guide for Visiting Every Thing Worthy of Consideration, Venice: Colombo Coen’s New Library, […], →OCLC, page 128:

Above all, the 48-page timetables of the new service, which have been distributed free at every station in the scheme, are a model to the rest of B.R. For the first time on British Railways, so far as we are aware, a substantial timetable has been produced, not only without a single footnote but also devoid of all wearisome asterisks, stars, letter suffixes and other hieroglyphics.

1960 December, “The Glasgow Suburban Electrification is Opened”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 714:

On the other hand, The New York Times favors the 'it doesn't exist' formula. It has prudishly renamed the play Shopping and … [Mark Ravenhill's play Shopping and Fucking (1996)] Everyone does it, no one will name it! The Times doesn’t even give it an asterisk or two. Three little dots must suffice. "How was it for you, my darling?" "That was the greatest three little dots I ever had in my life!"

1998 February 16, John Heilpern, “Shopping and Fucking: Is that all there is?”, in The Observer, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-05-17:

Data were collected from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Nutrition Coordination Center (NCC) Carotenoid Database (Holden et al., 1999) and correspond to raw foods unless indicated with an asterisc (cooked) or two asteriscs (canned).

2012, Úrsula Flores-Perez, Manuel Rodriguez-Concepcion, “Carotenoids”, in Andrew Salter, Helen Wiseman, Gregory Tucker, editors, Phytonutrients, Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, →ISBN, figure 3.2 caption, page 94:


asterisk

en-verb

asterisk (third-person singular simple present asterisks, present participle asterisking, simple past and past participle asterisked)

asterisks (present singular third-person)
asterisking (participle present)
asterisked (participle past)
asterisked (past)

/ˈæstəˌɹɪsk/

Bank of New Zealand Estates Company Share Account now stands, as we have already seen, at £1,089,722 17s. 7d., a reduction of £760,177 2s. 5d. having been effected by the writing off of share capital. But from the point of view of its intrinsic value, the item has still to be dealt with, being asterisked in the balance sheet as follows: […]

1896 August, The Australasian Insurance, Banking Record, quotees, “The Bank of New Zealand’s Balance Sheet”, in Clement H. Davis, editor, The Bankers’ Magazine of Australasia. An Illustrated Monthly, volume X, number 1, Melbourne, Vic.: Bankers’ Instituteo of Australasia, →OCLC, page 43:

She was determined to make the most of the trip, extracting some cultural capital from the emotional waste, and so read carefully through the Venice guidebooks she had brought, underlining the must-dos and asterisking the should-dos.

2003, Rebecca Campbell, “Odette in Venice”, in Slave to Love […], New York, N.Y.: Villard Books, →ISBN, page 95:

[Alain] Jaubert's preface is the longest and most detailed in our corpus; […] It covers both [Edgar Allan] Poe's work in general and the specific content of the volume (Jaubert, ingeniously, adopts an ad hoc typographical device, asterisking the references to the tales of his volume).

2020, Christopher Rollason, “Popular Poe Anthologies in the United Kingdom and France”, in Emron Esplin, Margarida Vale de Gato, editors, Anthologizing Poe: Editions, Translations, and (Trans)National Canons, Bethlehem, Pa.: Lehigh University Press; Lanham, Md.; London: The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, →ISBN, part IV (Wor(l)ding Poe Abroad: Anthologizers, Editors, Illustrators, and Translators), page 289:

(transitive) To mark or replace (text, etc.) with an asterisk symbol (*; noun sense 1.1); to star.

korvata tähtimerkillä

to mark or replace (text, etc.) with an asterisk symbol (*) — see also star


arrow

From Middle English arwe, from Old English earh (oblique form ēarw-), from Proto-West Germanic *arhu, from Proto-Germanic *arhwō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂érkʷo- (“bow, arrow”). Cognate with Faroese ørv (“arrow”), Icelandic ör (“arrow”), örvar (“arrows”), Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐍈𐌰𐌶𐌽𐌰 (arƕazna, “dart”), Latin arcus (“bow”).

der

Consider now the arrow with initial point A and terminal point B; this arrow we shall designate by #92;overrightarrow#123;AB#125;. If a#95;1,a#95;2,a#95;3, and b#95;1,b#95;2,b#95;3 are the coordinates of A and B, respectively, then #92;overrightarrow#123;AB#125; is equal to the arrow #92;overrightarrow#123;OP#125;, where O is the origin of the coordinate system and P has coordinates b#95;1-a#95;1,b#95;2-a#95;2,b#95;3-a#95;3. Thus each arrow is equal to one having the origin as its initial point.

1968, Robert R. Stoll, Edward T. Wong, Linear Algebra, London: Academic Press, →LCCN, pages 2–3:

A sign or symbol used to indicate a direction (e.g.→).


cross

en-verb

cross (third-person singular simple present crosses, present participle crossing, simple past and past participle crossed)

crosses (present singular third-person)
crossing (participle present)
crossed (participle past)
crossed (past)
cross (infinitive)
cross (first-person present singular)
crossed (first-person past singular)
cross (present second-person singular)
crossest (archaic present second-person singular)
crossed (past second-person singular)
crossedst (archaic past second-person singular)
crosses (present singular third-person)
crosseth (archaic present singular third-person)
crossed (past singular third-person)
cross (plural present)
crossed (past plural)
cross (present subjunctive)
crossed (past subjunctive)
cross (imperative present)
crossing (participle present)
crossed (participle past)

From Middle English cross, cros, from Old English cros (“rood, cross”), from Old Norse kross, from Old Irish cros, from Latin crux (crucī). In this sense displaced native Middle English rood, from Old English rōd; see rood. Compare Welsh croes, Irish crois.
The sense of "two intersecting lines drawn or cut on a surface; two lines intersecting at right angles" without regard to religious signification develops from the late 14th century.
Cognates
*Icelandic kross (“cross”)
*Faroese krossur (“cross”)
*Norwegian Nynorsk kross, kors (“cross”)
*Danish kors (“cross”)
*Swedish kors (“cross”)
*North Frisian kross, korss (“cross”)
*Saterland Frisian Krjuus, Kjus (“cross”)
*West Frisian krús (“cross”)
*Dutch kruis (“cross”)
*German Low German Krüüz (“cross”)
*German Kreuz (“cross”)

to cross me from the golden time I look for

c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

(transitive, obsolete) To interfere and cut off ; to debar.

To oppose.
To interfere and cut off ; to debar.


equal sign

equal signs (plural)
equals sign (alternative)

A symbol (=) used in mathematics to indicate that two values are the same, and elsewhere in various other ways, such as (formerly) to separate the signature from the content of a telegram.


clubs

(card games) One of the four suits of playing cards, marked with the symbol ♣.

اَلسِّبَاتِي

one of the four suits of playing cards, marked with the symbol ♣


plus sign

(arithmetic) The symbol + used to denote the operation of addition, to indicate that a number is positive, and so on.


minus sign

(arithmetic) The symbol −, used to denote the operation of subtraction or to indicate that a number is negative.

نَاقَص

symbol used to denote the operation of subtraction and to indicate that a number is negative


multiplication sign

en-noun

multiplication sign (plural multiplication signs)

(mathematics) Any symbol (in particular ×, * or ·) used to denote the operation of multiplication.


division sign

(mathematics) Any symbol (in particular ÷, / or : ) used to denote the operation of division.


skull

skulls (plural)
scull (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English sculle, scolle (also schulle, scholle), probably from a dialectal form of Old Norse skalli (“bald head, skull”), itself probably related to Old English sċealu (“husk”). Compare Scots scull, Danish skal (“skull”) and skalle (“bald head, skull”), Norwegian skalle, Swedish skalle and especially dialectal Swedish skulle.
Alternatively, perhaps from Old Norse skoltr, skolptr (“muzzle, snout”), akin to Icelandic skoltur (“jaw”), dialectal Swedish skult, skulle (“dome, crown of the head, skull”), Middle Dutch scolle, scholle, Middle Low German scholle, schulle (“clod, sod”), and Scots skult, skolt. Compare also Old High German sciula, skiula (“skull”).

Thine are these orbs of light and shade;
Thou madest Life in man and brute;
Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot
Is on the skull which thou hast made.

1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Prologue”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:

These bones as a symbol for death; death's-head.


ouroboros

ouroboros (plural ouroboroi or ouroboroses)

ouroboroi (plural)
ouroboroses (plural)
uroboros (alternative)

From Ancient Greek οὐροβόρος (ourobóros, “tail-devouring”, a compound of οὐρά (ourá, “tail”) + -βόρος (-bóros, “-devouring”, which is derived from the verb βιβρώσκω (bibrṓskō, “to eat up”))).

af

which is derived from the verb <i class="Polyt mention" lang="grc">βιβρώσκω</i> (bibrṓskō, “to eat up”)

bor

The alchemists were fond of picturing their opus as a circulatory process, as a circular distillation or as the uroboros, the snake biting its own tail, and they made innumerable pictures of this process.

1968 [1951], R. F. C. Hull, transl., Aion […] (The Collected Works of C. G. Jung), 2nd edition, volume 9.2, Princeton University Press, translation of original by C. G. Jung, →ISBN, page 264:

Khepera eating his own seed is a model of Romantic creativity, where the self is isolated and sexually dual. Khepera bent over himself is a uroboros, the serpent eating its own tail, a magic circle of regeneration and rebirth. The uroboros is the prehistoric track of natural cycle, from which Judaism and Hellenism make a conceptual break.

1990, Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 41:

One myth speaks of Ouroboros, a serpent-like creature that survived and regenerated itself by eating only its own tail. By neither taking from nor adding to its environment, this creature was said to be completely environmentally benign and self-sufficient.

2004, Adrian Bejan et al., Porous and Complex Flow Structures in Modern Technologies, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 121:

First, the snake has not caught its tail—the ouroboros figure is uncompleted. Blake executed fully formed ouroboros figures for the verso of this Night Thoughts page and for a later passage (6:690-92), and was familiar with numerous full ouroboros figures from contemporary and earlier sources […]

2013, Jackie DiSalvo, G. A. Rosso, Christopher Z. Hobson eds., Blake, Politics, and History, Routledge, →ISBN:

(mythology) A serpent, dragon or worm that eats its own tail, a representation of the continuous cycle of life and death.

أوربوروس

a serpent, dragon or worm that eats its own tail


stet

Borrowed from Latin stet (“let it stand”), an inflection of stō (“I stand”).

[O]ne particular sub-editor […] would proof-read my book reviews and archly insert literally dozens of little commas – each one of which I felt as a dart in my flesh. […] I would thank her, glance at the blizzard of marks on the galley proof, wait for her to leave the room, and then (standing up to get a better run at it) attack the proof, feverishly crossing out everything she had added, and writing “STET”, “STET”, “STET”, “STET”, “STET” all down the page, until my arm got tired and I was spent.

2003 November 6, Lynne Truss, “Introduction – The Seventh Sense”, in Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, London: Profile Books Ltd, →ISBN, pages 31–32:

And my copyeditors at HarperCollins want me to use the word “commodified” exclusively, since it’s the only one in Websters. But I see the words as very different, and have issued a big STET on that one.

2005, Douglas Rushkoff, "Commodified vs. Commoditized", 2005-09-04

A symbol used by proofreaders and typesetters to indicate that a word or phrase that was crossed out should still remain.

korjauksen peruutus

generic term used for any notation to reverse an edit


caret

From the Latin caret (“it lacks”), the third-person singular present active indicative form of careō (“I lack”).

A mark ⟨ ‸ ⟩ used by writers and proofreaders to indicate that something is to be inserted at that point.

An exponentiation symbol or operator ⟨＾⟩.

(user interface) An indicator, often a blinking line or bar and usually called a cursor, indicating where the next insertion or other edit will take place.


plus

I've won a holiday to France plus five hundred euros in spending money!


plus

en-verb

plus (third-person singular simple present pluses or plusses, present participle plusing or plussing, simple past and past participle plused or plussed)

pluses (present singular third-person)
plusses (present singular third-person)
plusing (participle present)
plussing (participle present)
plused (participle past)
plused (past)
plussed (participle past)
plussed (past)

Plussing is a technique for enhancing a positive atmosphere in the session, for diminishing hostility, and for raising self-esteem.

1979, Douglas A. Puryear, Helping People in Crisis, page 87:

In addition to active listening as a general therapeutic strategy, Puryear identifies two specific techniques, plussing and paradox, that are used throughout the crisis intervention.

1997, Bernard L. Bloom, Planned short-term psychotherapy: a clinical handbook, page 187:

When plussing, the intervenor introduces novel viewpoints that can increase the self-esteem of both the attacker and the target.

2015, Kenneth France, Crisis Intervention, →ISBN, page 177:

(psychology) To frame in a positive light; to provide a sympathetic interpretation.


swastika

en-noun

swastika (countable and uncountable, plural swastikas)

Learned borrowing from Sanskrit स्वस्तिक (svastika), from सु- (su-, “good, well”) + अस्ति (asti), a verbal abstract of the root of the verb "to be", स्वस्ति (svasti) thus meaning "well-being" — and the diminutive suffix क (ka); hence "little thing associated with well-being", corresponding roughly to "lucky charm". First attestation in English in 1871, a Sanskritism that replaced the Grecian term gammadion. From 1932 onwards it often referred specifically to the version used by the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (also called the "hooked cross", or German Hakenkreuz).

sauwastika

left-facing; symbolizing the night or the tantric aspects of Kali

This was signed by Dana Da, who added pentacles and pentagrams, and a crux ansata, and half-a-dozen swastikas, and a Triple Tau to his name, just to show that he was all he laid claim to be.

1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Sending of Dana Da”, in In Black and White, Folio Society, published 2005, pages 423–4:

It is clear from archaeological finds that they enjoyed wearing Christian crosses, though they might enliven these with such symbols as the Indian swastika which Buddhists had brought them.

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 270:

A GOP office in Hillsborough, North Carolina, was firebombed over the weekend, with a swastika and the words “Nazi Republicans leave town or else” spray painted on an adjacent building, according to local officials.

2016 October 16, Eric Bradner and Adrienne Shih, “Local GOP office in North Carolina firebombed”, in CNN:

Authorities in Connecticut are investigating after swastikas were found drawn on a high school campus in Stamford for the second time since Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel earlier this month, the school district said.

2023 October 30, Sara Smart and Elizabeth Wolfe, “Swastikas found drawn on Connecticut high school campus for second time since Israel-Hamas war ignited, district says”, in CNN:

(countable) A cross with arms of equal length all bent halfway along at a 90° angle to the right or to the left, used as a religious symbol by various ancient and modern civilizations, but now mainly seen and used in the West (with arms angled to the right) as a symbol of Nazism and fascism.

swastika

a cross with arms of equal length all bent halfway along at a 90° angle


minus

From Middle English mynus, from Latin minus, neuter form of minor, comparative form of parvus (“small, little”), from the Proto-Indo-European root *mey- (“few, small”).

I walked out minus my coat.


plus-minus sign

en-noun

plus-minus sign (plural plus-minus signs)

(mathematics) the symbol ±, meaning "plus or minus", used to indicate the precision of an approximation (as in "The result is 10 ± 0.3", meaning the result is anywhere in the inclusive range from 9.7 to 10.3), or as a convenient shorthand for a quantity with two possible values of opposing sign and identical magnitude (as in "The roots of the equation x²-4=0 are ±2").


minus-plus sign

minus-plus sign (plural minus-plus signs)

(mathematics) the symbol ∓, meaning "minus or plus", used alongside the plus-minus sign to show that a negative value is to be taken where the positive value is indicated by the plus-minus sign, and vice versa (as in (x ± 1) / (x ∓ 2), which means (x + 1) / (x - 2) and (x - 1) / (x + 2).


fylfot

Uncertain, but likely from Middle English fillen (“to fill”) (from Old English fyllan) + fot (“foot”) (from Old English fōt), in reference to its use as a design to be placed at the bottom of stained-glass windows.

Morley: A year and a half ago I stumbled into your gingerbread office, a lost, frightened soul in terrified flight across the great yawning terror of doubt—a human being, in short!—and you chanted some hagridden formulas and danged some fylfots...

There was a coffee tray on top of it, and spilt coffee part hid the fylfot design of the tray.

1982, Anthony Burgess, The End of the World News:

A swastika, especially one with the arms bent in an anticlockwise direction.


inverted caret

Learners employing the vowels must not use either the inverted caret v (a) or the dot, (e or i) except as vowels.

1823, George Jackson, Two New and Efficient Systems of Stenography, page 28:


chemical symbol

chemical symbol (plural chemical symbols)

(by extension) a similar symbol used to denote a different chemical entity, such as an isotope (e.g. D = deuterium, though IUPAC prefers "²H"), a radical (e.g. Ph [or Φ] = phenyl), an unknown (e.g. M = a metal, or X = a halogen), etc.


graphism

graphism (countable and uncountable, plural graphisms)

From Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō, “to draw, paint, sketch; to write”) + -ισμός (-ismós, “-ism, a suffix forming abstract nouns of action, state, condition, or doctrine”).

suffix

The complex but fundamental relationship between language and graphism is one of the more provocative recognitions of Gesture and Speech.

1993, Randall White, Gesture and Speech, Introduction, page xix:

In effect, the analogy of writing that lies at the core of graphism has subtly colonized the conversation.

Visceral and biomorphic graphism resists dominant ideologies by maintaining independence from voice, but unlike other forms of disconnected graphism, visceral graphism does not engage in a degenerative turn; it inherently generates new meaning.

The expression of thought in material symbols.


taegeuk

Borrowed from Korean 태극(太極) (taegeuk). Doublet of tai chi.

A Korean symbol composed of two interlocking spirals, one red and one blue, representing earth and heaven, respectively.


Soyombo

/ˈsɔɪ.əmbəʊ/

Borrowed from Mongolian соёмбо (sojombo), from Sanskrit स्वयम्भू (svayambhū, “self-created”).

der

A special character of that script used as the national symbol of Mongolia.


triple parentheses

(neo-Nazism) The parentheses "((( )))" placed around a name or thing (used to indicate that somebody or something has a Jewish background or is thought to be insidiously controlled by the Jews).


broad arrow

From Middle English brodarwe, brode arewe, brood arowe.

Their boats were manned by convicts, dressed in prison clothing, freely decorated with numbers and emblazoned all over with the ominous broad arrow.

1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 197:

(A stylized representation of) a metal arrowhead, comprising a tang and two barbs meeting at a point; used traditionally in heraldry, and later by the British government to mark government property and convict uniforms.

It was his ill fate, to be a ſleepe, as old Abbas was going a hunting within the path, the King ſaw him not, but his pamperd horſe ſlartled at him, whereat immediatly the King ſent a broad Arrow into the poore mans heart, and ere all his followers had paſt, the man was kild a hundred times ouer, if ſo many Arrowes could haue forfeited ſo many liues, in imitating the King, as if the deed were good and commendable.

1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “The Ambassadours entertainment by the King of Persia”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, page 98:

Broad arrows, frequently mentioned in Scotland as a blanche ferme, were fired from the short bow and had a swallow tail or broad head with two large barbs sloping backwards towards the shaft.

1979, John M[athewson] Gilbert, “Hunting and Hawking”, in Hunting and Hunting Reserves in Medieval Scotland, Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers Ltd, →ISBN, section A (Introductory Narrative), page 62:

A hard yarn twangs the tension and fires its broad arrow out of a grim space of Old Australian smells: toejam, tomato sauce, semen and dead singlets the solitary have called peace but which is really an unsurrendered trench.

1987, Les A[llan] Murray, “Aspects of Language and War on the Gloucester Road”, in The Daylight Moon, Manchester: Carcanet Press Limited, published 1988, →ISBN, page 85:

(now chiefly historical) An arrow fitted with this arrowhead.


tryzub

Borrowed from Ukrainian тризу́б (tryzúb, “trident”), from три (try, “three”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”)) + зуб (zub, “tooth”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbʰos (“tooth; row of teeth; peg”)). See three, comb.

All princes of the Kievan period had a common heraldic emblem: the Trident (Tryzub), which in various forms can be traced all the way to the second century of the new era, as archeological findings show.

1962, Isidore Nahayewsky, “The Kingdom of Halich-Volynia”, in History of Ukraine, Philadelphia, Pa.: “America” Publishing House of the “Providence” Association of Ukrainian Catholics in America, →OCLC, page 108:

The community jumped on the group [a band]. […] Many have been trivial criticisms: directed at their use of English lyrics; their ostensible desecration of Ukrainian music (such as the punked up versions of Ногу, Ногу and Volya, and their use of a tryzub in the Pyrih logo – a punker kozak in dark glasses puffing on a pipe.

1981 March, Sonia Maryn, “New Gig Has ’Em Gagging”, in Студент: Газета Украінського Студентства Канади [Student: Hazeta Ukrainsʹkoho Studentstva Kanady, Student: Canada’s Newspaper for Ukrainian Students], volume 13, number 69, Edmonton, Alta.: Ukrainian Canadian Students’ Union, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 8, column 2:

The tryzub, which literally means "trident," is the Ukrainian national symbol and is by far the most common design found on the stones [in American cemeteries]. […] Other tryzubs have an upward pointed sword for the central part of the trident. The most common form of the tryzub is made of intertwined lines forming a never-ending loop. Many tryzubs are part of various emblems, such as the emblem for the Ukrainian National Republic of 1918 and emblems for various Ukrainian military divisions.

1993, Thomas E. Graves, “Keeping Ukraine Alive through Death: Ukrainian-American Gravestones as Cultural Markers”, in Richard E. Meyer, editor, Ethnicity and the American Cemetery (Material Culture), Bowling Green, Oh.: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, →ISBN, page 42:

From flag-toting pedestrians, to bumperstickers, to makeshift fliers, to buttons (znachki), the national symbol of Ukraine, the tryzub, and the Ukrainian blue-and-yellow flag were everywhere apparent.

1996, Catherine Wanner, “Nationalism on Stage: Music and Change in Soviet Ukraine”, in Mark Slobin, editor, Returning Culture: Musical Changes in Central and Eastern Europe, Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 150:

Now that Ukraine is an independent nation, the government and people are reviving Ukraine's traditions. One of these traditions is the symbol of the tryzub, or trident—a three-pronged spear. According to Ukraine's Constitution, the national emblem is a gold trident on a blue background. This symbol has been used in Ukraine since the first century a.d. Later, princes of Ukraine sealed important papers with the trident symbol.

2001, Patricia K. Kummer, “Reclaiming Ukraine’s Identity”, in Ukraine (Enchantment of the World; Second Series), New York, N.Y.: Children’s Press, Scholastic, →ISBN, page 15:

The tryzub, or "trident," originated as the royal crest of Ukrainian Grand Prince Volodymyr in the 10th century. […] It was adopted as the national seal of Ukraine in 1991 upon the declaration of Ukrainian independence after the dissolution of the USSR. Here Volodymyr's tryzub with a cross was refurbished […] and was reattached to the Ukrainian Hall of SS. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in Carnegie.

2009, Stephen P. Haluszczak, “Church and Community: A Connection from Ages to Ages”, in Ukrainians of Western Pennsylvania (Images of America), Charleston, S.C., Chicago, Ill.: Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN, image caption, page 66:

She got up to look at all the different Ukrainian items. There were gold and silver Tryzubs, Ukrainian Lacquere wooden beads, Ukrainian gold chains called rose gold.

2013 June 14, E[rin] J. Sankey, “Fun”, in Fire and Ice, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 261:

“That is Ukraine symbol,” Sofiya said in surprise. “Look,” She took the pendant and showed it to Craig, “the Tryzub, the symbol of Ukraine. Olena said her mother gave on her sixteenth birthday.” She sobbed. Under the bright lights, the silver gleamed.

2013 July, I. C. Enger, “Olena”, in Green Ice: A Lake House Mystery, Hanford, Calif.: Oak Tree Press, →ISBN, page 155:


samtaegeuk

samtaegeuks (plural)
sam taegeuk (alternative)

Borrowed from Korean 삼태극(三太極) (samtaegeuk).

bor+

The three colors have symbolic meaning in Korean Shamanism to represent the three ele-ments^([sic]) of nature: heaven, earth, and humans. The three colors are often rendered in a spinning circle called samtaegeuk to represent the harmonious intermingling of the triad.

2008 December 28, Sung Youn Sonya Gwak, Be(com)ing Korean in the United States: Exploring Ethnic Identity Formation Through Cultural Practices, Cambria Press, →ISBN, page 183:

The two basic colors of the taegeuk (red and blue—heaven and Earth, respectively) are often combined in the form of a wave with yellow (man), giving the highly harmonious samtaegeuk form.

2015 April 6, Benjamin Joinau, Elodie Dornand de Rouville, Sketches of Korea: An Illustrated Guide to Korean Culture, Seoul Selection, →ISBN, page 183:

This goal can be furthered, according to the WT’s stated philosophy, by adopting the Hwarang spirit, behaving rationally, and acknowledging the philosophies embodied in the taegeuk (the yin and yang, i.e., “the unity of opposites”) and the sam taegeuk (understanding change in the world as the interactions of the heavens, the Earth, and Man).

2024 November 5, Sai Rahinj, Taekwondo For All: Glimpses of World’s no. 1 Martial Art, Clever Fox Publishing, →ISBN, page 19:

A variant of the taegeuk, featuring a third yellow spiral, representing humanity.