asymptote
|a-symp-tote|
🇺🇸
/ˈeɪsɪmˌtoʊt/ or /əˈsɪmˌtoʊt/
🇬🇧
/ˈeɪsɪmˌtəʊt/ or /əˈsɪmˌtəʊt/
approaches but never touches
Etymology
'asymptote' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'asymptōtos', where 'a-' meant 'not' and 'symptōtos' meant 'falling together (meeting)'.
'asymptote' changed from Greek 'asymptōtos' into Late Latin 'asymptota' and then entered modern English (via Medieval/Modern Latin and French influences) as 'asymptote'.
Initially it meant 'not falling together' or 'not meeting', and over time it evolved into the mathematical sense of 'a line that a curve approaches but does not meet.'
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
in mathematics, a straight line that a curve approaches arbitrarily closely as the independent variable grows, but does not meet.
The graph of the function has a horizontal asymptote at y = 2.
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Noun 2
figuratively, something that is approached ever more closely but never reached; an unattainable limit.
Her improvement felt like an asymptote: always getting closer but never quite arriving.
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Last updated: 2025/10/29 06:38