scalene
[skey-leen]
- Geometry.
- (of a cone or the like) having the axis inclined to the base.
- (of a triangle) having three unequal sides.
- Anatomy. of or relating to a scalenus muscle.
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Origin of scalene
1635–45; < Late Latin scalēnus < Greek skalēnós unequal
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for scalene
Historical Examples
A scalene triangle abc might also be employed, or a tetrahedron.
The points we occupied respectively formed a scalene triangle.
Gorillas & ChimpanzeesR. L. Garner
Here each face of the octahedron is replaced by six scalene triangles, so that altogether there are 575 forty-eight faces.
The general form is bounded by twelve scalene triangles and is a ditrigonal bipyramid.
But it is sometime rationall, and to be expressed by a number: yet but in a scalene triangle onely.
The Way To GeometryPeter Ramus
scalene
- maths (of a triangle) having all sides of unequal length
- anatomy of or relating to any of the scalenus muscles
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Word Origin
C17: from Late Latin scalēnus with unequal sides, from Greek skalēnos
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for scalene
adj.
"having unequal sides," 1680s, from Late Latin scalenus, from Greek skalenos "uneven, unequal, odd (numbered)," as a noun, "triangle with unequal sides," from skallein "chop, hoe," from PIE *(s)kel- (1) "to cut" (see scale (n.1)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
scalene
[skā′lēn′]
- Having three unequal sides, as a triangle that is neither equilateral nor isosceles.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
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