symbol

English symbol comes from French symbole, from Latin symbolum, from Ancient Greek σύμβολον (súmbolon), meaning a sign, mark, or token by which one infers something.

The Greek noun súmbolon came from the verb sumbállō, "to throw together, compare, tally," itself built from sún ("with, together") and bállō ("to throw, put"). So a symbol began as something thrown together with its matching piece, used as a sign of recognition, before settling into its broader sense of a mark that stands for something else.

It shares its root bállō ("to throw") with other Greek-derived words built on throwing or casting, since sumbállō was formed by combining sún with bállō.