symptom

Symptom comes from Middle English sinthoma, from Medieval Latin sinthoma, reshaped under Late Latin symptoma, from Ancient Greek súmptōma, meaning 'a happening, accident, symptom of disease.'

The Greek word traces back to sumpíptō, 'I befall,' built from sun- ('together') and píptō ('to fall') — so a symptom was originally something that 'falls together' with, or accompanies, a condition.

It shares its Greek root píptō ('to fall') with other words built on that stem, and the sun- prefix links it to the family of 'syn-' words meaning 'together.'