Standard Lemma guide

polyhedron

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˌpɒlɪˈhiːdɹən/
  • UK: /ˌpɒliːˈhiːdɹən/
  • UK: /ˌpɒliːˈhiːdɹɒn/
  • UK, dated: /ˌpɒlɪˈhɛdɹən/
  • UK: /ˌpɒliːˈhɛdɹən/
  • UK: /ˌpɒliːˈhɛdɹɒn/
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˌpɑliˈhidɹən/
  • US: /ˌpɑliˈhidɹɑn/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːdɹən
  • rhymes with -iːdɹɒn
  • rhymes with -ɛdɹən
  • rhymes with -ɛdɹɒn
  • CMU ARPABET: P AA2 L IY2 HH IY1 D R AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A solid figure with many flat faces and straight edges.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: geometry, mathematics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A polyscope, or multiplying glass.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: engineering, natural-sciences, optics, physical-sciences, physics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A stage in the growth of Hydrodictyon, when the resting spore breaks up into several megazoospores that put out horn-like appendages; these polyhedra break up into zoospores.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, botany, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

a solid figure bounded by plane polygons or faces

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: solid

Narrower terms: convex polyhedron, concave polyhedron, prism, pyramid, tetrahedron, pentahedron, hexahedron, octahedron, decahedron, dodecahedron, icosahedron, regular polyhedron, regular convex solid, regular convex polyhedron, Platonic body, Platonic solid, ideal solid, prismatoid, trapezohedron

History

Etymology

From New Latin polyedron, from Ancient Greek πολύεδρος (polúedros, “having many seats”), from πολυ- (polu-, “many”) + ἕδρα (hédra, “seat”); compare French polyèdre. By surface analysis, poly- + -hedron.

Across languages

Translations

51 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: բազմանիստ (bazmanist) — geometry: solid figure
  • Azerbaijani: çoxüzlü — geometry: solid figure
  • Belarusian: шматгра́ннік (šmathránnik) — geometry: solid figure
  • Belarusian: мнагагра́ннік (mnahahránnik) — geometry: solid figure
  • Bulgarian: полиедър (poliedǎr) — geometry: solid figure
  • Bulgarian: многостен (mnogosten) — geometry: solid figure
  • Catalan: poliedre — geometry: solid figure
  • Catalan: políedre — geometry: solid figure
  • Chinese Mandarin: 多面體 /多面体 (duōmiàntǐ) — geometry: solid figure
  • Crimean Tatar: çoqhanelik — geometry: solid figure
  • Czech: mnohostěn — geometry: solid figure
  • Danish: polyeder — geometry: solid figure
  • Dutch: veelvlak — geometry: solid figure
  • Dutch: polyeder — geometry: solid figure
  • Esperanto: pluredro — geometry: solid figure
  • Finnish: monitahokas — geometry: solid figure
  • Finnish: polyedri — geometry: solid figure
  • Finnish: tahokas — geometry: solid figure
  • French: polyèdre — geometry: solid figure
  • Galician: poliedro — geometry: solid figure
  • German: Polyeder — geometry: solid figure
  • German: Vielflach — geometry: solid figure
  • German: Vielflächner — geometry: solid figure
  • Greek: πολύεδρον (polýedron) — geometry: solid figure
  • Hindi: बहुफलक (bahuphalak) — geometry: solid figure
  • Hungarian: poliéder — geometry: solid figure
  • Icelandic: margflötungur — geometry: solid figure
  • Ido: poliedro — geometry: solid figure
  • Italian: poliedro — geometry: solid figure
  • Japanese: 多面体 (tamentai) — geometry: solid figure
  • Kazakh: көпжақ (köpjaq) — geometry: solid figure
  • Korean: 다면체 (damyeonche) — geometry: solid figure
  • Latvian: daudzstūris — geometry: solid figure
  • Macedonian: полиедар (poliedar) — geometry: solid figure
  • Māori: matarau — geometry: solid figure
  • Norwegian Bokmål: polyeder — geometry: solid figure
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: polyeder — geometry: solid figure
  • Polish: wielościan — geometry: solid figure
  • Portuguese: poliedro — geometry: solid figure
  • Romanian: poliedru — geometry: solid figure
  • Romanian: poliedre — geometry: solid figure
  • Russian: многогра́нник (mnogogránnik) — geometry: solid figure
  • Russian: полиэ́др (poliédr) — geometry: solid figure
  • Slovak: mnohosten — geometry: solid figure
  • Slovene: polieder — geometry: solid figure
  • Spanish: poliedro — geometry: solid figure
  • Swedish: polyeder — geometry: solid figure
  • Tagalog: damdayag — geometry: solid figure
  • Ukrainian: багатогра́нник (bahatohránnyk) — geometry: solid figure
  • Ukrainian: многогра́нник (mnohohránnyk) — geometry: solid figure
  • Vietnamese: đa diện — geometry: solid figure
Real reading context

polyhedron in complete knowledge articles