polygon

poly·gon

noun \ˈpä-lē-ˌgän\

Definition of POLYGON

1

: a closed plane figure bounded by straight lines

2

: a closed figure on a sphere bounded by arcs of great circles

— po·lyg·o·nal \pə-ˈli-gə-n^əl\ adjective

— po·lyg·o·nal·ly \-n^əl-ē\ adverb

Examples of POLYGON

1. Pentagons, hexagons, and octagons are all kinds of polygons.

Origin of POLYGON

Late Latin polygonum, from Greek polygōnon, from neuter of polygōnos polygonal, from poly- + gōnia angle — more at -gon

First Known Use: 1571

Other Mathematics and Statistics Terms

abscissa, denominator, divisor, equilateral, exponent, hypotenuse, logarithm, oblique, radii, rhomb

Rhymes with POLYGON

Abadan, Acheron, Ahriman, aileron, alençon, amazon, Amazon, amnion, and so on, antiphon, Aragon, autobahn, balmacaan, Bantustan, baryon, Basilan, bear down on, beat up on, betatron, biathlon, cabochon, call upon, calutron, carillon, carry-on, carry on, celadon, check up on, chorion, colophon, come upon, Culiacán, cyclotron, decagon, decathlon, demijohn, dine out on, early on, echelon, electron, elevon, enteron, epsilon, ethephon, etymon, fall back on, fermion, follow-on, Genghis Khan, get it on, go back on, going on, goings-on, gonfalon, Grand Teton, graviton, hanger-on, harijan, helicon, heptagon, hereupon, hexagon, hold out on, hopping John, Huascarán, hyperon, Isfahan, isochron, Kublai Khan, Kyrgyzstan, lay eyes on, Lebanon, leprechaun, liaison, Lipizzan, load up on, logion, looker-on, macédoine, marathon, Marathon, marzipan, mastodon, Mazatlán, Miquelon, miss out on, morion, move in on, myrmidon, nonagon, noumenon, nucleon, Oberon, octagon, off and on, omicron, Oregon, organon, ostracon, Pakistan, Palawan, pantheon, paragon, Parmesan, parmigiana, Parthenon, peloton, pentagon, pentathlon, Percheron, Phlegethon, Phocion, pick up on, positron, Procyon, put-upon, Rajasthan, Ramadan, ride herd on, run low on, run out on, run upon, set eyes on, set foot on, set upon, silicon, sneak up on, Süleyman, tachyon, Taiyuan, talkathon, telamon, telethon, thereupon, tie one on, triathlon, Tucumán, upsilon, virion, walkathon, walk out on, whereupon, woebegone, work upon, Yerevan, Xiangtan, Zahedan

polygon

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

In geometry, any closed curve consisting of a set of line segments (sides) connected such that no two segments cross. The simplest polygons are triangles (three sides), quadrilaterals (four sides), and pentagons (five sides). If none of the sides, when extended, intersects the polygon, it is a convex polygon; otherwise it is concave. A polygon with all sides equal is equilateral. One with all interior angles equal is equiangular. Any polygon that is both equilateral and equiangular is a regular polygon (e.g., equilateral triangle, square).