Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell symptom

Symptom is spelled S-Y-M-P-T-O-M.

hear itsymp·tom/'sɪmptəm/nounSchwa and roots

What it means: A common indication of a condition or disease.

In a sentence: When you have a cold, a cough is a common symptom.

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear.

Same family: symptoms, symptomatic, asymptomatic, sign, indicator. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: Symptom comes from the Greek word “symptōma,” meaning “a happening” or “chance event,” and originally referred to something that ‘fell together’ with a disease, showing that it was there. Over time, it came to mean any sign or indication that a medical condition exists.

Try spelling it

You will hear the word and a sentence. Type it and press Enter. Then four more words from the same level, so you know where you stand.

Words like this

Everyone has words they always get wrong. Spelling.School finds yours, shows you exactly why you miss them, and uses spaced repetition until you spell them right every time. Five minutes a day. Try five words without signing up.