Platonic solid

noun

, Geometry.

1. one of the five regular polyhedrons: tetrahedron, octahedron, hexahedron, icosahedron, or dodecahedron.

Platonic solid

noun

1. any of the five possible regular polyhedra: cube, tetrahedron, octahedron, icosahedron, and dodecahedron Also called (esp formerly)Platonic body

Word History and Origins

Origin of Platonic solid¹

First recorded in 1950–55

Word History and Origins

Origin of Platonic solid¹

C17: named after Plato ¹, who was the first to list them

Example Sentences

Figure 1 | The assembly of proteins into Platonic and Archimedean geometries. a, Platonic solids are a family of symmetrical 3D shapes that includes the cube.

From Nature

Dr. Curry’s favorite theorem is the classification of the Platonic solids.

From Scientific American

Like Platonic solids, rigid objects are typically rare, and sometimes theoretical objects can be so rigid they don’t exist — mathematical unicorns.

From New York Times

Johannes Kepler famously fixated on a model of the solar system based on the regularity of the Platonic solids.

From Washington Post

He moves on to survey the forgotten 3-D Platonic solids, namely, Kepler–Poinsot polyhedrons, such as the small stellated dodecahedron, known to have been depicted by a Venetian mosaic artist as early as 1430.

From Scientific American