polygon

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from Late Latin polygōnum,^[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek πολύγωνον (polúgōnon), the noun use of the neuter of πολύγωνος (polúgōnos, “many-angled”),^[2][3][4][5] which is formed from πολύς (polús, “much, many”) and -γωνος (-gōnos, “-angled”), from γωνία (gōnía, “angle, corner”).^[5][3][2] English first used the Latin form, including its plural.^[6][7] Barnhart holds that the English form, recorded in 1656, was probably also borrowed from French polygone, which he dates to 1567;^[6] the OED dates the French word to 1520 and compares it without deriving the English from it.^[2] The adjective is borrowed from Latin polygōnos (“polygonal”), a word of Vitruvius.^[2] Etymonline traces the two Greek elements to Proto-Indo-European *pele- (“to fill”) and Proto-Indo-European *genu- (“knee; angle”),^[3] and Barnhart relates the noun for an angle to γόνυ (gónu, “knee”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A plane figure with many straight sides and angles: about 1560, in Digges's Pantometria, which was printed in 1571.^[2][8] Etymonline dates the word to the 1570s,^[3] and Barnhart records the Latin plural in 1571 and the anglicized form in Blount's Glossographia of 1656.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Definitions differ on how many sides count: Johnson (1755) simply said "a figure of many angles",^[9] the OED says usually more than four sides and Klein more than four,^[2][5] and Collins and Barnhart admit three or more.^[10][6] The word was extended to solid things of that outline in fortification, from 1638, after a French use of 1615.^[2] Mechanics added the polygon of forces in 1820.^[2] In the 20th century it was applied to the shapes of patterned ground (1913), and in computing to the simple units from which images are built on screen (1971).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1560 – a plane figure with many straight sides and angles.^[2][8]
• 1570 – adjective, having many sides or angles (obsolete by 1796).^[2]
• 1638 – a material object of this form, as a fortification.^[2]
• 1820 – polygon of forces, in mechanics.^[2]
• 1913 – in physical geography, one of the figures of patterned ground.^[2]
• 1971 – in computing, a simple shape from which images are built.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A closed plane figure bounded by straight sides, with as many angles as sides: A hexagon is a polygon with six sides.^[10][8][2]
2. A similar closed figure on the surface of a sphere, with arcs of great circles as its sides.^[8]
3. An object or area of roughly this shape.^[8][2]
4. (physical geography) One of the often six-sided figures in patterned ground, formed by repeated freezing and thawing.^[8][2]
5. (computing) A simple shape, often with three or four sides, used as a unit for building up an image on a screen.^[2]

Adjective

1. (obsolete, 1570–1796) Having many sides or angles; polygonal.^[2][7]

Word family

• polygonal
• polygonally

Related words

• poly-
• -gon
• pentagon
• knee

References

1. ^ a b 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins