tangram

American  

[tang-gruhm] / ˈtæŋ grəm /

noun

1. 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.

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tangram British  

/ ˈtæŋɡræm /

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of tangram

1860–65; tang-, perhaps < Chinese Táng T'ang, i.e., Chinese + -gram ¹

Example Sentences

Also included are seven tangram puzzle pieces, which you can scan into special puzzles and play with both digitally and physically.

From The Verge • Nov. 5, 2021

Older, puzzle-minded kids can dive into a geometry challenge with a plain wooden tangram of 7 pieces and a book of silhouettes, attempting to recreate the images by manipulating the shapes.

From Slate • Nov. 26, 2019

On the appearance of this magazine article, the late Sir James Murray, the eminent philologist, tried, with that amazing industry that characterized all his work, to trace the word "tangram" to its source.

From Amusements in Mathematics by Dudeney, Henry Ernest