hexagon
Americannoun
-
hexagons
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hexagon
From the Greek word hexágōnon, dating back to 1560–70. See hexa-, -gon
Explanation
The name of a shape depends on how many sides it has. A hexagon is a polygon that has six sides. Remember the "x" in "six" and "hex," and you'll be fine. Many of our words in science and math hearken back to the Greek, and hexagon is no exception. The idea of a six-sided figure comes from the Greek hexágōnon, with gonia meaning "angle," which makes sense, as a hexagon not only has six sides, but six angles, or vertices. There are various types of hexagons, including the "regular hexagon" (where all the sides and angles are equal to each other) and the "irregular hexagon" (which has unequal angles and sides).
Vocabulary lists containing hexagon
Geometry - Introductory
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The ACT Math Test: Geometry, List 2
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Geometry - Middle School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The structure has some similarities to Saturn's famous hexagon at its northern pole, but important differences suggest researchers may be watching a distinct atmospheric phenomenon take shape.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
Stripped of their brown paint and polished, each fragment will weigh 18 grams, or just over half an ounce, and be fashioned into a hexagon — the shape of France.
From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
The French sometimes refer to their country as “L’Hexagone” — the hexagon — because of its shape.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
Yet for some species, the hexagon comes with a nasty catch: It isn't one-size-fits-all.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2023
At lunch and after school they often gathered at a wooden table in the hallway that people called the hex table, even though, as Ian pointed out, it was an octagon, not a hexagon.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
The scoreboards in Ontario, he said, are planned as hexagons — just like the ones at Dodger Stadium.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2024
This process starts with the assembly of small, triangular parts into hexagons, which subsequently join up with pentagons to form the icosahedral structures of viral capsids.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 4, 2024
Ridges of radiating lines that are designed to reflect light, a nod to Paris’ nickname as the City of Light, surround the hexagons.
From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2024
At the Richmond, California, plant of the company Coherent, an assembly line is polishing three 1.5-meter mirrors each month before trimming them into hexagons.
From Science Magazine ● Oct. 17, 2023
And about how the only shapes that one can use to tile a floor, if all the tiles are the same, are triangles, squares and hexagons.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
