asymptote
/ˈæsɪmptəʊ̯t/noun, verb
asymptote is spelled A-S-Y-M-P-T-O-T-E. The wrong spelling people search most is asymtope: about 40 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 60 of all searches for the word. Asymptote is a noun meaning “A straight line which a curve approaches arbitrarily closely as it goes to infinity. The limit of the curve…”. The plural of asymptote is asymptotes.
How many letters and syllables are in asymptote?
| Letters | 9: A-S-Y-M-P-T-O-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 11 million words; the 100,430th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, asymtope, about 40 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell asymptote?
Asymptote is spelled A-S-Y-M-P-T-O-T-E. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 60 of the searches for asymptote in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is asymptote?
Asymptote appears about once in every 11 million words in written English, the 100,430th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce asymptote?
- UK /ˈæsɪmptəʊ̯t/
- UK [ˈæsɪmtəʊ̯t]
- UK /ˈæsɪmtɒt/
Asymptote has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-عُثمان_(Middle_river_exports)-asymptote.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-asymptote.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of asymptote
- asymptotes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- asymptoting participle, present
- asymptoted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does asymptote mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A straight line which a curve approaches arbitrarily closely as it goes to infinity. The limit of the curve; its tangent "at infinity".
- 2
Anything which comes near to but never meets something else.
verb
- 1
To approach, but never quite touch, a straight line, as something goes to infinity.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Asymptote in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a straight line which a curve approaches arbitrarily closely:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | asymptote |
| German | Asymptote |
| Portuguese | assíntota, assímptota, assintota, assimptota |
| Spanish | asíntota |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does asymptote come from?
circa 1650, from Ancient Greek ἀσύμπτωτη (asúmptōtē), the feminine of Apollonius Pergaeus' (circa 200 BC) Ancient Greek adjective ἀσύμπτωτος (asúmptōtos, “not falling together”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + συν- (sun-, “together”) + πτωτός (ptōtós, “fallen”). See also a-, syn-, -ote.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).