Cube Was a Greek Word for a Die
A cube is a solid with six square faces. The Greek word meant the gaming die, not the abstract shape.
A cube is a solid figure with six equal square faces, and in arithmetic a number multiplied by itself twice. Greek *kybos* meant a gaming die: the everyday object came first and the geometry was named after it. Greek mathematics often worked this way, taking a familiar thing and abstracting it. The cube is one of the five Platonic solids, the only shapes whose faces are all identical regular polygons meeting identically at every corner.
- A six-faced solid. *A wooden cube.*
- A number cubed. *Three cubed is 27.*
- A small block. *A sugar cube.*
- Cubic — of three dimensions. *Cubic metres.*
- Greek — *kybos*, a die. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | cube | A cube. |
| Plural | cubes | Cubes. |
| Verb | cube | Cubed. |
| Adjective | cubic | Cubic. |
| Greek | kybos | A die. |
- Cut the bread into cubes.Shape.
- Four cubed is sixty-four.Arithmetic.
- Kybos meant a die.Etymology.
The five Platonic solids
- Tetrahedron — four triangular faces
- Cube — six square faces
- Octahedron — eight triangular faces
- Dodecahedron — twelve pentagonal faces
- Icosahedron — twenty triangular faces, and there are no others
Greek *kybos*, a cube or gaming die, through Latin *cubus*.
Why is a cube named after a die?
Greek kybos meant a gaming die. The familiar object gave its name to the geometric shape, not the other way round.
Why are there only five Platonic solids?
Because the angles at each corner must add to less than a full turn, which allows only five arrangements of identical regular polygons.