axisymmetry
|ax-is-sym-me-try|
/ˌæk.sɪˈsɪm.ə.tri/
symmetry around an axis
Etymology
'axisymmetry' is a compound formed in modern English from 'axis' + 'symmetry'. 'Axis' comes from Latin 'axis' meaning 'axle, pivot', and 'symmetry' ultimately comes from Greek 'symmetria' meaning 'commensurate measure' via Latin and Old French.
'axis' was borrowed from Latin 'axis' (itself from Greek 'axís' in sense 'axle, pivot'), and 'symmetry' comes from Greek 'symmetria' → Latin/French forms → Middle English 'symmetry'. The combined technical term 'axisymmetry' (and related adjective 'axisymmetric') arose in modern scientific English to name symmetry about an axis.
The component words originally referred to 'axle/axis' and 'proportion/measure'; combined in modern usage they specifically denote 'symmetry around an axis' in geometry and applied sciences.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
the property of a shape, object, or field being invariant under rotations about a specific axis; symmetry around an axis.
Axisymmetry greatly simplifies the mathematical analysis of the system.
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Noun 2
in physics and engineering, the condition that fields (e.g., velocity, pressure, magnetic) or boundary conditions depend only on distance from and angle about an axis in a way unchanged by rotation about that axis.
Many flow problems assume axisymmetry to reduce a 3D problem to 2D in cylindrical coordinates.
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Last updated: 2025/12/06 03:13