geometrical

Etymology

It is either borrowed from Medieval Latin geometricalis, recorded in British Latin sources from the 12th century, or formed from Latin geōmetricus (“geometric”) with the suffix -al.^[2] Etymonline and the Middle English Dictionary take the second route, from the Latin adjective,^[3][4] and the Shorter Oxford forms it like geometric with -al.^[5] The Latin adjective is from geōmetria, the source of geometry.^[3] Middle French had geometrical once, in 1517, of a land surveyor's measuring rod.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to geometry, or worked out by its methods: about 1392, in the Equatorie of Planetis, which tells the reader to check a cross "by geometrical conclusioun".^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In late Middle English the word also named units of length, after a medieval Latin use: a geometrical cubit was six common cubits, or nine feet, in a 15th-century translation of Higden's Polychronicon.^[2][4] The geometrical pace of five feet followed in 1559 and the geometrical foot and mile in 1597.^[2] From 1543, in Robert Recorde, it was a term of mathematics, as in geometrical progression and geometrical ratio.^[2][5] Etymonline explains that since the 16th century it has been opposed to arithmetical in such phrases because problems of multiplication were once handled by geometry rather than arithmetic.^[3] The 1989 edition of the OED had geometrical ratio from 1557.^[6] Later senses describe a design made of regular shapes (1777) and, in architecture, a style of Decorated tracery built from simple geometric figures (1838).^[2][5] As a noun it meant a number in a geometrical progression from 1706 to 1895, and since 1866 a geometric figure or pattern.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1392 – of or relating to geometry; constructed by its methods.^[2][4]
• before 1475 – geometrical cubit, a measure of nine feet.^[2][4]
• 1543 – in mathematics, of a progression or ratio.^[2]
• 1559 – geometrical pace, a measure of five feet.^[2]
• 1597 – geometrical foot, geometrical mile.^[2]
• 1676 – of an architect or draughtsman, using geometrical methods (obsolete, last recorded 1853).^[2]
• 1706 – noun, a number in a geometrical progression (obsolete, last recorded 1895).^[2]
• 1777 – of a design, made of regular shapes or patterns.^[2]
• 1838 – in architecture, of a style of Decorated tracery.^[2][5]
• 1866 – noun, a geometrical figure or pattern.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to geometry; drawn or worked out according to its rules: a geometrical proof.^[2][5][1]
2. Of a design: made up of regular lines and simple shapes: tiles with a geometrical pattern.^[2][1]
3. (mathematics) Of a progression, ratio or proportion: having a constant ratio between successive terms, as in 2, 6, 18, 54.^[5][2]
4. (architecture) Of an early style of English Decorated tracery, built from simple geometrical figures.^[5][2]
5. (historical) Of measures of length such as the geometrical cubit, pace or mile.^[2][5]

Noun

1. A geometrical figure or pattern.^[2]

Word family

• nongeometrical
• ungeometrical
• geometrical pace
• geometrically

Related words

• geometry
• geometric

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press