Other forms: systems
A system is a set of parts working together as one whole. The nervous system, the transport system, the solar system, a filing system — the word says the parts are connected and that the connections are the point.
It also means a method: a system for remembering names, a betting system. And, said with a definite article and a certain tone, the system means the established order of things, usually in complaint: you cannot beat the system. In computing, the system is the machine or the software as a whole, and system error, operating system and system requirements are all fixed phrases. Note that systematic means methodical, while systemic means affecting the whole body or organisation — a distinction that matters a great deal in medicine and in politics.
1nounsystemA set of connected parts working together as a whole.~65%
“The heating system has never worked properly.”
2nounmethodAn organised method of doing something.~25%
“She has a system for sorting the post.”
3nounestablishedThe established way things are organised in a society.~8%
“He spent thirty years arguing with the system.”
4noungroupA group of organs in the body that work together.~2%
“The drug affects the nervous system.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 12 sentences found in the wild and placed 12 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
system is an organised whole.
Ancient Greek systema meant something set together — syn-, together, plus histanai, to stand. The same Greek root sits inside statue, stable and constitution. A system is, at the root, a set of things standing together.
Proto-Indo-European
*sem-
Middle French
systeme
English, today
system
Built from
Borrowed from Middle French systeme. Partly Middle French sisteme, systeme, partly directly from its etymon Latin systēma (“harmony; musical scale; set of celestial objects; set of troops; system”), from Ancient Greek σύστημα (“musical scale; organized body; whole made of several parts or members”), from σῠνίστημῐ (“to combine, organize”) + -μᾰ. σῠνίστημῐ is from σῠν- (“with, together”) + ἵστημι (“to stand”), from Proto-Indo-European steh₂- (“to stand (up)”). Cognate with Dutch systeem, modern French système, German System, Italian sistema, Portuguese sistema, Spanish sistema. a doublet of systema.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA