Etymo

polygon

A closed plane figure with straight sides.

Played on · Day 12 · word 3 of 5

Many angles.

How polygon reached English

oldest first
  • poly-‘many’
  • gōnia‘angle, corner’

combined

  1. Greek

    polýgōnon

    ‘many-angled’

  2. Late Latin

    polygōnum

  3. English

    polygon

    ‘a plane figure with numerous angles’

The story of polygon

Polygon comes through a Latinized Greek formation. Its components refer to many angles. Although we often count a polygon’s sides, the name’s second piece is the Greek angle element.

This view explains the components. They are pieces of one construction, not consecutive borrowing stages.

Sources

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