tangram

[ tang-gruhm ]

noun

a Chinese puzzle consisting of a square cut into five triangles, a square, and a rhomboid, which can be combined so as to form a great variety of other figures.

Origin of tangram

1860–65; tang-, perhaps <Chinese TángT'ang, i.e., Chinese + -gram¹

Words Nearby tangram

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use tangram in a sentence

One remarkable thing about these tangram pictures is that they suggest to the imagination such a lot that is not really there.
Amusements in Mathematics | Henry Ernest Dudeney
tangram, tan′gram, n. a Chinese puzzle, consisting of a square of wood cut into seven pieces of various shapes.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) | Various

British Dictionary definitions for tangram

tangram

/ (ˈtæŋɡræm) /

noun

a Chinese puzzle in which a square, cut into a parallelogram, a square, and five triangles, is formed into figures

Origin of tangram

C19: perhaps from Chinese t'ang Chinese + -gram

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