dissymmetry

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁

Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is-

Proto-Italic *dis-

Latin dis-

Old French des-bor.

▲

Latin dis-bor.

Middle English dis-

English dis-

English symmetry

English dissymmetry

From dis- + symmetry.

Noun

dissymmetry (countable and uncountable, plural dissymmetries)

1. asymmetry
   • 1997, “He Who Accompanies Me”, in George Collins, transl., The Politics of Friendship, London; New York, N.Y.: Verso, translation of Politiques de l’amitié by Jacques Derrida, published 2005, →ISBN, page 185:

     In each feature of this sovereign friendship (exception, improbable and random unicity, metapolitical transcendence, disproportion, infinite dissymmetry, denaturalization, etc.), it might be tempting to recognize a rupture with Greek philía – a testamentary rupture, as some would hasten to conclude, a palaeo- or neo-testamentary rupture.

   • 2001, Bernard E. Harcourt, chapter 5, in Illusion of Order:

     The dissymetry between the criminal act and the torturous punishment reflected the gross imbalance of power between the subject and the sovereign.

2. (obsolete, chemistry) chirality