different between trapeze vs trapezium

English

Etymology

From French trapèze, from Latin trapezium. Doublet of trapezium.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /t???pi?z/
• Rhymes: -i?z

Noun

trapeze (plural trapezes)

1. (archaic, geometry) A trapezium.
2. A swinging horizontal bar, suspended at each end by a rope; — used by gymnasts.
3. (anatomy) The trapezium bone.
   • 2013, World Health Organization, Manual of Diagnostic Ultrasound (volume 2, page 463)

     […] the distance between the top of the flexor retinaculum and an imaginary line drawn between the trapeze and the hamate.

Derived terms

• trapeze artist
• trapezist

Translations

Verb

trapeze (third-person singular simple present trapezes, present participle trapezing, simple past and past participle trapezed)

1. To swing on a trapeze

Further reading

• Trapeze in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• Trapeze on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English

Etymology

Recorded since 1570, learned borrowing from Late Latin trapezium, from Ancient Greek ????????? (trapézion, “irregular quadrilateral”, literally “a little table”), diminutive of ??????? (trápeza, “table”). Doublet of trapeze.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t???pi?.zi.?m/

• (General American, also) IPA^(key): /t?æ?pi.zi.?m/

Noun

trapezium (plural trapeziums or trapezia)

1. (geometry, Britain, Australia, New Zealand) A four-sided polygon with two sides parallel
2. (geometry, US, dated) A four-sided polygon with no parallel sides and no sides equal; a simple convex irregular quadrilateral.
3. (anatomy) The trapezium bone of the wrist.
4. A region on the ventral side of the brain, either just back of the pons Varolii, or, as in man, covered by the posterior extension of its transverse fibers.

Usage notes

• (geometry): The terms trapezium and trapezoid have swapped meanings in the US and Canada as compared with the rest of the world.

Synonyms

• (archaic) trapeze
• (geometry, British, four-sided polygon with two parallel sides): (US) trapezoid
• (geometry, US, four-sided polygon with no sides parallel and no equal sides): (British) trapezoid, (British) irregular quadrilateral.

Related terms

• trapeze
• trapeziform
• trapezius
• trapezoid

Translations

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin trapezium, from Ancient Greek ????????? (trapézion, “irregular quadrilateral”), diminutive of ??????? (trápeza, “table”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tr??pe?z??m/

Noun

trapezium n (plural trapeziums or trapezia, diminutive trapeziumpje n)

1. (geometry) A trapezium, trapezoid, a quadrilateral with two sides parallel

Related terms

• trapezoïde

Latin

Etymology

Late Latin; from Ancient Greek ????????? (trapézion, “irregular quadrilateral”, literally “a little table”), diminutive of ??????? (trápeza, “table”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /tra?pez.zi.um/, [t??ä?p?z?d??z?i???]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /tra?ped.d?zi.um/, [t????p?d???z?ium]

Noun

trapezium n (genitive trapezi? or trapez?); second declension

1. trapezium, trapezoid (four-sided shape with no sides parallel and no equal sides)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Descendants