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trapezium

Etymology and origin of the English word trapezium

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /tɹəˈpiː.zi.əm/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin trapezium,[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek τραπέζιον (trapézion, “little table; irregular quadrilateral”),[2][3][4][6][5] a diminutive of trápeza “table”,[2][3][4][6][5] from tra- “four” and péza “foot, edge”.[2][3][4][6] The Greek table is said to have had one side shorter than the opposite one.[4] It is related to trapeze and trapezoid.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In geometry, any four-sided figure that is not a parallelogram (1551 in the OED; 1570 in Barnhart and Merriam-Webster).[7][3][6][4]

Semantic evolution

The word has been confused with trapezoid, and the two have exchanged senses at various times.[4][1] The OED records the specific sense of a quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides from 1570,[7] and of one with no parallel sides as the usual English sense from about 1800 to 1875.[7] As the name of a bone of the wrist it is recorded from 1840.[4][7]

Timeline

  • 1551 – any quadrilateral not a parallelogram.[7]
  • 1570 – a quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides.[7][3]
  • 1795 – a quadrilateral with no parallel sides.[7]
  • 1840 – a bone of the wrist.[4][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. In American usage, a quadrilateral with no parallel sides.
  2. In British usage, a quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides (an American trapezoid).
  3. A bone of the wrist at the base of the thumb.

Word family

  • trapezial
  • trapeze
  • trapeziform
  • trapezius
  • trapezoid
  • tetra-

Usage notes

Wiktionary notes that trapezium and trapezoid have swapped meanings in the U.S. and Canada compared with the rest of the world.[1] Merriam-Webster gives trapeziums and trapezia as plurals.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Trapezium.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/trapezium. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·