Number & MeasureGreek → English
Axiom
/ˈæksiəm/noun
A statement accepted without proof as a starting point for reasoning.
The Greek roots
ἄξιος
áxios
worthy, of like value
Literally: “something thought worthy”
Follow a root:ἄξιος1 word
The story of the word
ἄξιος first meant weighing as much, balancing the scale, so an ἀξίωμα is a claim that carries its own weight. Aristotle used it for the starting points a science cannot prove and must simply assume. English borrowed the word in the late 15th century. Euclid himself never used it: his own starting points are postulates and common notions, and later editors filed them under axioms.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → French → English
- First recorded
- late 15th century
Same family
axiomaticaxiology
In a sentence
Change one axiom and the whole geometry changes with it.
She treats punctuality as an axiom rather than a preference.