English▸ noun Mathematics (in a system of coordinates) the x -coordinate, the distance from a point to the vertical or y -axis measured parallel to the horizontal or x -axis. Compare with ordinate.
– ORIGIN early 17th century (denoting the part of a line between a point on it and the point of intersection with an ordinate): from modern Latin abscissa (linea) ‘cutoff (line)’, feminine past participle of abscindere (see abscission).