English Online Dictionary. What means vertex? What does vertex mean?
English
Etymology
Late Middle English, borrowed from Latin vertex (“whirl, eddy; top, crown, peak, summit”). Doublet of vortex.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈvɜː.tɛks/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈvɝˌtɛks/
- Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)tɛks
Noun
vertex (plural vertices or vertexes)
- The highest point, top or apex of something.
- Synonyms: acme, apex, peak, top
- Antonym: fundus
- (anatomy) The highest surface on the skull; the crown of the head.
- (geometry) An angular point of a polygon, polyhedron or higher order polytope.
- The common point of the two rays that form an angle.
- The point at which an axis meets a curve or surface.
- (mathematics) A point on the curve with a local minimum or maximum of curvature.
- (graph theory) One of the elements of a graph joined or not by edges to other vertices.
- Synonym: node
- Coordinate term: plot
- (computer graphics) A point in 3D space, usually given in terms of its Cartesian coordinates.
- (optics) The point where the surface of a lens crosses the optical axis.
- (particle physics) An interaction point.
- (astrology) The point where the prime vertical meets the ecliptic in the western hemisphere of a natal chart.
- (typography) A sharp downward point opposite a crotch, as in the letters "V" and "W" but not "Y".
- Coordinate term: apex
Derived terms
Related terms
- vertical
Translations
See also
- Mathworld article on vertices of polyhedra
- Mathworld article on vertices of polygons
References
- “vertex”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “vertex”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin vertex.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /vɛʁ.tɛks/
Noun
vertex m (plural vertex)
- (anatomy) vertex
Further reading
- “vertex” in Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française, 1872–1877.
- “vertex”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Latin
Alternative forms
- vortex (archaic)
Etymology
From vertō (“to turn around, turn about”).
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈu̯er.teks/, [ˈu̯ɛrt̪ɛks̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈver.teks/, [ˈvɛrt̪eks]
Noun
vertex m (genitive verticis); third declension
- whirl, whirlpool, eddy, vortex
- eddy of wind or flame, whirlwind, coil of flame
- (literally, anatomy) top, crown of the head
- (poetic) head
- vacuus vertex ― an empty head
- pole of the heavens (north or south)
- highest point, top, peak, summit (of a mountain, house, tree, etc.)
- Synonyms: cacūmen, apex, culmen, fastīgium, summitās
- Antonym: fundus
- a vertice ― frome above/at the top
- in verticem ― upright/vertically
- (figurative, poetic) highest, uttermost, greatest
Inflection
Third-declension noun.
Derived terms
Descendants
References
- “vertex”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “vertex”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- vertex in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- vertex in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
- Dizionario Latino, Olivetti
- Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “vĕrtex”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 14: U–Z, page 320
- Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911) “vĕrtex”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 706
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from French vertex, from Latin vertex.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈver.teks/
Noun
vertex n (uncountable)
- vertex
Declension
Further reading
- vertex in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)