dodecahedron
/ˌdəʊdɛkəˈhiːdr(ə)n
/noun (plural dodecahedra /ˌdəʊdɛkəˈhiːdrə/ or dodecahedrons)
A three-dimensional shape having twelve plane faces, in particular a regular solid figure with twelve equal pentagonal faces.There is a fifth Platonic regular solid too: the dodecahedron, which has pentagonal (five-sided) faces....
- The fifth regular polyhedron, the dodecahedron, was left over, so Plato proposed rather lamely that the god used it up for decorating the universe.
- Finally, so as not to leave out the one remaining regular solid, he proposed that the dodecahedron represented the shape of the entire universe.
Derivatives
dodecahedral
- Sphalerite is cubic with crystals commonly tetrahedral or dodecahedral and frequently complex and distorted.
- Archaeologists have unearthed models of dodecahedra at several sites in Europe, including a dodecahedral model in Germany that had holes of different sizes puncturing its faces.
- They described a distorted 5.5 x 4-cm dodecahedral crystal of genthelvite from a small pegmatite near Stove Mountain.
Origin
Late 16th century: from Greek dōdekaedron, neuter (used as a noun) of dōdekaedros 'twelve-faced'.