trapezium

American  

[truh-pee-zee-uhm] / trəˈpi zi əm /

noun

trapeziums, plural trapezia plural

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 British  

/ 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 Scientific  

/ trə-pē′zē-əm /

trapeziums plural

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

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• trapezial
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• trapezia
  plural
• trapeziums
  plural

Etymology

Origin of trapezium

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; see tetra-, foot) + -ion diminutive suffix

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

trapezium trapezia trapeziums

This movement is produced at the first carpometacarpal joint, which is a saddle joint formed between the trapezium carpal bone and the first metacarpal bone.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013

In the following year Mr. Roberts more than doubled for us the great extension of the nebular region which surrounds the trapezium in the constellation of Orion.

From Scientific American Supplement No. 819, September 12, 1891 by Various

In shape, the peninsula forms a rough trapezium, with its greatest length from north-west to south-east.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 3 "Apollodorus" to "Aral" by Various

J, trapezium, with mound at S.W. corner 18 m.

From Historical Introduction to Studies Among the Sedentary Indians of New Mexico; Report on the Ruins of the Pueblo of Pecos Papers Of The Archæological Institute Of America, American Series, Vol. I by Bandelier, Adolph Francis Alphonse

There was a curious thirteenth-century chest, trapezium in form, and said to be the only one of that shape in the West of England.

From From John O'Groats to Land's End by Naylor, Robert

And let all quadrilaterals other than these be called trapezia.

From The Teaching of Geometry by Smith, David Eugene

The figures inscribed and circumscribed to the segment are made up of such narrow strips and have a saw-like edge; all the elements are trapezia except two, which are triangles, one in each figure.

From Archimedes Men of Science by Heath, Thomas Little

We will debate as to whether this equality of parts exists in all parallelograms, trapeziums, and like figures.

From Émile or, Concerning Education; Extracts by Steeg, Jules

We observed this degree of precision that we might not add the uncertainty of the measure of triangles, trapeziums, and the sinuosities of the coasts, to the uncertainty of geographical statements.

From Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 3 by Humboldt, Alexander von