Vertices

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈvɝtɪsiːz/

Definitions

1. The locations in geometric forms where two or more edges or lines meet are referred to as the crucial points that shape the figure
2. These key points in polygons and polyhedra signify where the sides converge, helping to define the structure
3. Points where edges or lines of a geometric figure come together to form corners

Etymology: "Vertices" is the plural of "vertex", and the singular has a more striking history than its neat geometric meaning suggests. In Latin, "vertex" meant something that turns: a whirl, an eddy, or the point on which something spins. From that sense of a turning point came the meaning "top" or "crown" of something, and specifically the summit of a peak or the crown of the head. English borrowed the word from Latin in the late Middle Ages, so it first named the highest point of a thing rather than a corner. The geometric sense of a point where lines or edges meet came later, as mathematicians and writers extended the idea of an apex or top to the angular points of figures. "Vertex" is a doublet of "vortex", meaning that both words descend from the same Latin root and reached English by different routes, one keeping a spinning sense and the other the sense of the highest point.

Synonyms: corners, points