Etymology

asymptote

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Today it means: A straight line which a curve approaches arbitrarily closely as it goes to infinity. The limit of the curve; its tangent "at infinity". Full definition →

Ancient Greek ἀσύμπτωτη
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · borrowed fromἀσύμπτωτη
  2. English todayasymptote

circa 1650, from Ancient Greek ἀσύμπτωτη (asúmptōtē), the feminine of Apollonius Pergaeus' (circa 200 BC) Ancient Greek adjective ἀσύμπτωτος (asúmptōtos, “not falling together”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + συν- (sun-, “together”) + πτωτός (ptōtós, “fallen”). See also a-, syn-, -ote.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.