Trapezoid - More On Terminology

More On Terminology

The term trapezium is sometimes defined in the USA as a quadrilateral with no parallel sides, though this shape is more usually called an irregular quadrilateral. The term trapezoid was once defined as a quadrilateral without any parallel sides in Britain and elsewhere, but this does not reflect current usage. (The Oxford English Dictionary says "Often called by English writers in the 19th century".)

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the sense of a figure with no sides parallel is the meaning for which Proclus introduced the term "trapezoid". This is retained in the French trapézoïde, German Trapezoid, and in other languages. A trapezium in Proclus' sense is a quadrilateral having one pair of its opposite sides parallel. This was the specific sense in England in 17th and 18th centuries, and again the prevalent one in recent use. A trapezium as any quadrilateral more general than a parallelogram is the sense of the term in Euclid. The sense of a trapezium as an irregular quadrilateral having no sides parallel was sometimes used in England from c. 1800 to c. 1875, but is now obsolete. This sense is the one that is sometimes quoted in the US, but in practice quadrilateral is used rather than trapezium.

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