Dictionary

Platonic solid en · NOUN

Etymology

From Platonic + solid, in reference to the Greek philosopher Plato, who in his dialogue Timaeus theorised about a correspondence between these solids and the classical physical elements.

Meanings

1. Any of five convex polyhedra with congruent regular polygonal faces, which have a high degree of symmetry and have been studied since antiquity.
   • As the names suggest, the groups and their existence are connected to the five Platonic solids. They are in fact the rotation groups of the Platonic solids. 1961, J. S. Griffith, The Theory of Transition-Metal Ions, page 41:
   • The boat which the gods tell Utnapishtim to build is no ordinary boat but a perfect cube with seven levels; the ark resembles more a Platonic solid from the Timaeus than a seaworthy craft. 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 202:
   • The erroneous number of planets, six, gave him^([Johannes Kepler]) the clue for his model of five Platonic solids (the five regular convex polyhedra) on which he erected the universe. 1993, Aharon Kantorovich, Scientific Discovery: Logic and Tinkering, page 160:
   • In the 13th and final book, he^([Euclid]) shows how to construct the five Platonic solids, and proves that they are the only regular polyhedra (bodies whose faces are congruent, regular polygons) that exist. 2015, Alexander A. Stepanov, Daniel E. Rose, From Mathematics to Generic Programming, page 44:

Forms

Hyponyms

icosahedron (Any of five polyhedra) · octahedron (Any of five polyhedra) · cube (Any of five polyhedra) · regular hexahedron (Any of five polyhedra) · dodecahedron (Any of five polyhedra) · tetrahedron (Any of five polyhedra)

Relateds

Archimedean solid · Kepler solid · Catalan solid · Johnson solid · Platonic hydrocarbon

Translations (23)

sv platonsk kropp (Any one of five polyhedra) · pt sólido platônico (Any one of five polyhedra) · it solido platonico (Any one of five polyhedra) · cs platónské těleso (Any one of five polyhedra) · ca sòlid platònic (Any one of five polyhedra) · es sólido platónico (Any one of five polyhedra) · ru плато́ново те́ло (Any one of five polyhedra) · de platonischer Körper (Any one of five polyhedra) · ka პლატონური სხეული (Any one of five polyhedra) · hu szabályos test (Any one of five polyhedra) · gl sólido platónico (Any one of five polyhedra) · nl regelmatig veelvlak (Any one of five polyhedra) · nl platonisch lichaam (Any one of five polyhedra) · la corpus rēgulātum (Any one of five polyhedra) · hu platóni test (Any one of five polyhedra) · da platonisk legeme (Any one of five polyhedra) · pl wielościan foremny (Any one of five polyhedra) · pl bryła platońska (Any one of five polyhedra) · fi Platonin kappale (Any one of five polyhedra) · fur solit platonic (Any one of five polyhedra) · eo platona solido (Any one of five polyhedra) · pt sólido platónico (Any one of five polyhedra) · fr solide de Platon (Any one of five polyhedra)

wikipedia: Timaeus (dialogue) · wikipedia: Classical element