Tau

Quick meaning: Tau is a noun meaning A Τ-shaped object or sign; a Saint Anthony's cross, sometimes regarded as a sacred symbol.

Meaning

A Τ-shaped object or sign; a Saint Anthony's cross, sometimes regarded as a sacred symbol.

More Meanings

1. The ankh symbol (☥).
2. (astronomy) Chiefly written τ: used to designate the nineteenth star (usually according to brightness) in a constellation.
3. The letter Τ /τ in the Greek alphabet; being the nineteenth letter of the Classical and Modern Greek, and the twenty-first letter of the Old and Ancient Greek alphabets.
4. (finance) A measurement of the sensitivity of the value of an option to changes in the implied volatility of the price of the underlying asset.
5. (mathematics, neologism) Chiefly written τ: an irrational and transcendental constant representing the ratio of the circumference of a Euclidean circle to its radius, equal to twice the value of pi (2π; approximately 6.2831853071).
6. (neurology) Ellipsis of tau protein (“a protein abundant especially in the neurons of the human central nervous system that stabilizes microtubules, and when misfolded is associated with forms of dementia such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases”).
7. Alternative form of taw; the 22nd and last letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic.

Example Sentences

(includes a list of coordinate terms)

The tau is both the 19ᵗʰ letter of the Greek alphabet, and also the 22ⁿᵈ letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In this context, the Hebrew tau or tav is more pertinent.

Nor ſhall we take in the myſticall Tau, or the Croſſe of our bleſſed Saviour, which having in ſome deſcriptions an Empedon or croſſing foot-ſtay, made not one ſingle tranſverſion.

Quite what that job is remains obscure, but one theory is that it is to stabilise another protein called tau, which is supposed in turn to keep in shape the tubular ‘skeleton’ of a neuron.

Word Forms

• taus

Synonyms for tau

Depending on context, synonyms include kappa, vega.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include subsection, crux, first, neutrino, tao, terminus.

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