symbolic
sym·bo·licadjective
symbolic is spelled S-Y-M-B-O-L-I-C: 8 letters and 3 syllables (sym·bo·lic). It appears 7.2 times per million words in written English, the 8,784th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, symbolic means “Pertaining to a symbol” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in symbolic?
| Letters | 8: S-Y-M-B-O-L-I-C |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: sym·bo·lic |
| In writing | 7.2 times per million words; the 8,784th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is symbolic?
Symbolic appears 7.2 times per million words in written English, the 8,784th 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 symbolic?
- General-American
Symbolic has 3 syllables, split sym·bo·lic in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-symbolic.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-symbolic.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of symbolic
- more symbolic comparative
- most symbolic superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does symbolic mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Pertaining to a symbol.
- 2
Implicitly representing or referring to another thing.
a symbolic gesture
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Symbolic in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | symbolique |
| German | symbolisch , symbolträchtig |
| Portuguese | simbólico |
| Spanish | simbólico |
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 symbolic come from?
From French symbolique or directly from Latin symbolicus, from Ancient Greek συμβολικός (sumbolikós, “of or belonging to a symbol”), equivalent to symbol + -ic.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).