symbolism
sym·bol·ism/ˈsɪmbəˌlɪzəm/noun
symbolism is spelled S-Y-M-B-O-L-I-S-M: 9 letters and 3 syllables (sym·bol·ism). It appears 2.9 times per million words in written English, the 15,798th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, symbolism means “Representation of a concept through symbols or underlying meanings of objects or qualities” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of symbolism is symbolisms.
How many letters and syllables are in symbolism?
| Letters | 9: S-Y-M-B-O-L-I-S-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: sym·bol·ism |
| In writing | 2.9 times per million words; the 15,798th 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 symbolism?
Symbolism appears 2.9 times per million words in written English, the 15,798th 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 symbolism?
- /ˈsɪmbəˌlɪzəm/
Symbolism has 3 syllables, split sym·bol·ism in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-symbolism.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of symbolism
- symbolisms plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does symbolism mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Representation of a concept through symbols or underlying meanings of objects or qualities.
- 2
An art movement originating in late 19th-century France and Belgium, seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realism.
- 3
obsoleteA combining together of parts or ingredients.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Symbolism in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense representation of a concept:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | symbolisme |
| German | Symbolik |
| Portuguese | simbolismo |
| Spanish | simbolismo |
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 symbolism come from?
From symbol + -ism, sense 2 being a semantic loan from French symbolisme.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).