trapezium

[truh-pee-zee-uhm]

noun

plural

trapeziums, trapezia 

1. Geometry.

   1. (in Euclidean geometry) any rectilinear quadrilateral plane figure not a parallelogram.

   2. a quadrilateral plane figure of which no two sides are parallel.

   3. British.,  trapezoid.

2. Anatomy.,  a bone in the wrist that articulates with the metacarpal bone of the thumb.

trapezium

/ trəˈpiːzɪəm /

noun

1. Usual US and Canadian name: trapezoid. a quadrilateral having two parallel sides of unequal length

2. a quadrilateral having neither pair of sides parallel

3. a small bone of the wrist near the base of the thumb

trapezium

plural

trapeziums 

1. A four-sided plane figure having no parallel sides.

Other Word Forms

• trapezial adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of trapezium¹

1545–55; < New Latin < Greek trapézion kind of quadrilateral, literally, small table, equivalent to trápez ( a ) table (shortening of *tetrapeza object having four feet, equivalent to tetra- four + péza foot, akin to poús, podós; tetra-, foot ) + -ion diminutive suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of trapezium¹

C16: via Late Latin from Greek trapezion , from trapeza table

Example Sentences

In a series of 8½ -by-11 drawings, the artist brings out circles and semicircles as well as squares and a trapezium.

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Plans also call for an indoor trapeze center, which the school says would be the only trapezium in the country.

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Plus some work on shape, so “boys, this is a trapezium”, and the like.

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Sometimes, however, in certain varieties of horses the trapezium is developed, but then it is no more than a very small osseous nodule.

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And let all quadrilaterals other than these be called trapezia.

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