syl/sym/syn

alongside, same, together

Spelled syl, sym, syn · syn 'with, together'

Greek syn gathers things together: sympathy shares feeling, symmetry matches measures, and synchronize brings events to the same time.

Words built from it

synonym — a word with nearly the same meaning as another
syn- (same) + onym (name)
syllable — a unit of pronunciation forming part of a word
syl- (together) + lab (take, seize)
symmetry — balanced proportion between matching parts
sym- (together, alike) + metr (measure)
sympathy — shared feeling of sorrow for another's misfortune
sym- (together) + path (feeling)
synchronize — to cause to happen at the same time
syn- (same) + chron (time)
synthetic — made artificially rather than occurring naturally
syn- (together) + thet (place, put)
symbiosis — a close, mutually dependent relationship
sym- (together) + bio (life)

asylum — from Greek asylon 'sanctuary,' not the syn- 'together' prefix
syllabus — traces to a misreading of Greek sittyba 'label, title-slip', later confused with syllabe 'syllable' — a scribal error, not genuinely from syn- + lambanein