chiliagon
- noun
- /ˈkɪliˌæɡən/
- Specialized
- When we attempt to think about a chiliagon, the intellect easily forms a clear and distinct perception of a figure with 1,000 sides, but the imagination fails miserably when it attempts to create an image of such a figure.
Examples
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Descartes's conception of intuition as a superior form of vision is further clarified by the example of the chiliagon in the 6th meditation.
Academic text (2017) -
I may construct in my mind a confused representation of some figure, but it is clear that this is not a chiliagon.
Academic text (2017) -
Moreover, such a representation is useless for recognizing the properties that distinguish a chiliagon from other polygons.
Academic text (2017) -
A chiliagon is a polygon that contains exactly one thousand sides.
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While a triangle has three sides, a chiliagon uniquely features one thousand.
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In geometry class, we learned that a chiliagon is a shape with a thousand angles and sides.
Surface Forms
Morphology
chiliagon = chili + agon
Formed from Greek combining forms ('chili-' = thousand, '-agon' = angle) that are not standalone or productive English words, so an average B1 learner cannot reliably derive the meaning from the parts.
Etymology
Chiliagon comes from the Greek parts chili- meaning 'thousand' and -gon meaning 'angle', with chili- like the 'kilo-' in kilogram and -gon the same as in polygon. So a chiliagon is a polygon with one thousand sides, which is why it can look almost like a circle.
