means A mark, object, or image that stands for something else — an idea, a value, or a whole concept — by agreement or association.

from From Greek 'symbolon,' a token or sign, built from 'syn-' (together) and 'ballein' (to throw or cast) — literally 'thrown together.' The lovely detail: a symbolon was once a physical thing snapped in two, with each party keeping a half; fit the broken edges back together and the match proved who you were. So a symbol began as one piece of a pair that only means something when reunited with what it points to. It passed through Latin 'symbolum' into English.