Quadrilaterals

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A four-sided figure characterized by its angles and sides includes various forms such as parallelograms and rhombuses
2. A shape with four edges and four vertices that can take various forms like squares, rectangles, and trapezoids
3. A geometric figure consisting of four sides and corners, including types like quadrangles, rectangles, and squares

Etymology: "Quadrilaterals" is simply the plural of "quadrilateral," so its history is that of the singular form. That word is a learned borrowing from New Latin "quadrilaterus," which combines the Latin "quadri-" (four) with "latus" (side), and the English "-al" suffix, which turns the Latin adjective into a noun. Its literal sense is "four-sided," a description of the shape's defining feature rather than a name built around any particular example. The word thus reflects a scholarly habit of building technical vocabulary from classical roots. Because it was coined in New Latin, a language of learned writing used in early modern Europe, the term belongs to the same family as many geometric and scientific words that English adopted in that period, rather than to ancient Roman speech itself.

Synonyms: four-sided figures, quadrangles