symbol
n. countablen. a sign, shape, or object that represents a specific idea or meaning. For example, a heart is often used as a sign for love.
n. a mark, character, or conventional sign used as a representation of an object, function, or process. Often functions as a concrete representation of an abstract concept.
The dove is a common symbol of peace.
In mathematics, the plus sign is the symbol used to show that you are adding numbers together.
The author uses the recurring image of a broken clock as a symbol for the protagonist's inability to move past his childhood trauma.
From French symbole, from Latin symbolus, symbolum (“a sign, mark, token, symbol, in Late Latin also a creed”), from Ancient Greek σύμβολον (súmbolon, “a sign by which one infers something; a mark, token, badge, ticket, tally, check, a signal, watchword, outward sign”), from συμβάλλω (sumbállō, “to throw together, dash together, compare, correspond, tally, come to a conclusion”), from σύν (sún, “with, together”) + βάλλω (bállō, “to throw, put”).
Commonly followed by the preposition 'of' to indicate what the sign represents.