abscissa

English

A point in the Cartesian plane; x is the abscissa.

Etymology

By ellipsis from Latin [linea] abscissa, feminine of abscissus, perfect passive participle of abscindō (“cut off”). See abscind.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /æbˈsɪs.ə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ab‧scis‧sa

Noun

abscissa (plural abscissas or abscissae or abscissæ)

1. (geometry) The first of the two terms by which a point is referred to, in a system of fixed rectilinear coordinate (Cartesian coordinate) axes. [First attested in the late 17^th century.]

   Coordinate term: ordinate

   The point $(3,2)$ has 3 as its abscissa and 2 as its ordinate.

2. (geometry) The horizontal line representing an axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, on which the abscissa (sense above) is shown.

   Coordinate term: ordinate

Usage notes

Originally, it referred to the portion of a line between a fixed point on that line and the intersection of that line with an ordinate.

Synonyms

• absciss

Hypernyms

• (first of two coordinates): coordinate
• (horizontal line): axis

Translations

first of two coordinates

• Armenian: աբսցիս (abscʻis)
• Azerbaijani: absis (az)
• Bulgarian: абсци́са (bg) f (abscísa)
• Catalan: abscissa f
• Cebuano: handaganós
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 橫坐標 / 横坐标 (waang⁴ zo⁶ biu¹)

  Mandarin: 橫坐標 / 横坐标 (zh) (héngzuòbiāo)

• Czech: abscisa f
• Dutch: abscis (nl) f
• Estonian: abstsiss (et)
• Finnish: abskissa (fi)
• French: abscisse (fr) f
• Georgian: აბსცისა (ka) (abscisa)
• German: Abszisse (de) f
• Greek: τετμημένη (el) f (tetmiméni)
• Hungarian: abszcissza (hu)
• Ido: abciso (io)
• Indonesian: absis (id)
• Interlingua: abscissa
• Irish: aibsíse f
• Italian: ascissa (it) f
• Japanese: 横座標 (ōzahyō)
• Malay: absisa
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: abscisse (no) m

• Persian: طول (fa)
• Polish: odcięta (pl) f, abscysa f (obsolete)
• Portuguese: abscissa (pt), abcissa (pt) f
• Romanian: abscisă (ro) f
• Russian: абсци́сса (ru) f (abscíssa)
• Sami:

  Northern Sami: abskisˈsa

• Spanish: abscisa (es) f
• Swedish: abskissa (sv) c
• Tagalog: higawat
• Turkish: apsis (tr)
• Vietnamese: hoành độ (vi)

horizontal axis

• Bulgarian: абсци́са (bg) (abscísa), абсци́сна ос (abscísna os)
• German: Rechtsachse f
• Indonesian: absis (id)
• Japanese: 横軸 (ja) (yokojiku)
• Malay: absisa
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: abscisseakse m

• Polish: odcięta (pl) f, abscysa f (obsolete)

See also

• abscissa on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• ordinate
• applicate

Latin

Etymology 1

From abscissus, perfect passive participle of abscindō (“tear away”).

Pronunciation 1

Noun

abscissa f (genitive abscissae); first declension

1. (New Latin, mathematics) abscissa

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	abscissa	abscissae
genitive	abscissae	abscissārum
dative	abscissae	abscissīs
accusative	abscissam	abscissās
ablative	abscissā	abscissīs
vocative	abscissa	abscissae

Descendants

• → English: abscissa
• → Irish: aibsíse
• → Norwegian Bokmål: abscisse
  • → Northern Sami: abskissa
• → Portuguese: abscissa
• → Italian: ascissa

Pronunciation 2

Noun

abscissā f

1. ablative singular of abscissa

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Participle

abscissa

1. inflection of abscissus:
   1. nominative/vocative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

Participle

abscissā

1. ablative feminine singular of abscissus

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• abcissa (Portugal)

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /a.biˈsi.sɐ/, /abˈsi.sɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /a.biˈsi.sɐ/, /abˈsi.sɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /abˈsi.sa/, /a.biˈsi.sa/

• Hyphenation: abs‧cis‧sa

Noun

abscissa f (plural abscissas) (Brazilian Portuguese spelling)

1. (geometry) abscissa (first of two coordinates)

   Coordinate term: ordenada

Further reading

• “abscissa”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “abscissa”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Swedish

Noun

abscissa c

1. alternative spelling of abskissa; abscissa

Declension

Declension of abscissa

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	abscissa	abscissas
	definite	abscissan	abscissans
plural	indefinite	abscissor	abscissors
	definite	abscissorna	abscissornas