Geometric Nomenclature 101
Can't tell a
triacontakaiheptagon from a
hectohexacontatrigon? Fear no more. Soon you'll be able to include
Greek numerology and
geometric nomenclature on your
curriculum vitae.
Polygonal prefixes are of greek
origin. So if you think a
heptagon should really be called a
septagon, sorry but sept- comes from the
Latin septum, whereas the Greek prefix for
seven is hepta. Another tricky one to look out for is
enneagon, a
nine-sided polygon.
Nonagon is also commonly accepted these days, but it helps to be able to recognise the
alternatives.
Units
1 hena-
2 di-
3 tri-
4 tetra
5 penta-
6 hexa-
7 hepta-
8 octa-
9 ennea-
10 decagon
11 hendecagon,
undecagon
12 dodecagon
Teens
13 triskaidecagon
14 tetrakaidecagon
15 pentakaidecagon
16 hexakaidecagon
17 heptakaidecagon
18 octakaidecagon
19 enneakaidecagon
Tens
10 decagon
20 icosagon
icosikai +
unit prefix
30 tricontagon
tricontakai +
unit prefix
40 tetracontagon
tetracontakai +
unit prefix
50 pentacontagon
pentacontakai +
unit prefix
60 hexacontagon
hexacontakai +
unit prefix
70 heptacontagon
heptacontakai +
unit prefix
80 octacontagon
octacontakai +
unit prefix
90 enneacontagon
enneacontakai +
unit prefix
100 hectogon
hecta +
tens prefix +
unit prefix
1000 chiliagon
10000 myriagon