trapezium
trapezium Lexical Profile
trapezium Game Scores & Validity
• noun
British A four-sided plane geometric figure (quadrilateral) having at least one pair of parallel sides.
"To find the area of the trapezium, multiply the average length of its two parallel sides by the perpendicular height."
North American A four-sided plane geometric figure (quadrilateral) having no parallel sides.
"Because none of the four boundary lines of the lot ran parallel to one another, the surveyor classified the parcel as an irregular trapezium."
A small, irregularly four-sided carpal bone in the wrist situated at the base of the thumb, articulating with the first metacarpal bone and the scaphoid.
"The orthopedic surgeon examined the X-ray closely to rule out a fracture of the trapezium at the base of the patient's thumb."
Word Nuance & Usage
In geometry, the meanings of 'trapezium' and 'trapezoid' are directly reversed between North American and British English: a quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides is called a 'trapezoid' in North America and a 'trapezium' in Britain, whereas a quadrilateral with no parallel sides is a 'trapezium' in North America and a 'trapezoid' in Britain.
• Rhymes for trapezium
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the late 16th century from Late Latin trapezium, from Ancient Greek trapezion ('a small table' or 'irregular quadrilateral'), the diminutive of trapeza ('table'), which literally meant 'four-legged' (from tetra- 'four' + peza 'foot').