Number & MeasureGreek → English
Geodesic
/ˌdʒiːəˈdɛsɪk/adjective
Describing the shortest path between two points on a curved surface, or a dome built from a triangular framework.
The Greek roots
γῆ
gê
earth
δαίω
daíō
to divide
Literally: “earth-dividing”
The story of the word
Geodaisia was the practical business of surveying land, as against geometry the theory. The word narrowed to mean the shortest line on a curved surface, which is why aircraft on a great-circle route seem to bulge north on a flat map. Buckminster Fuller took it for his domes in the 1940s, and the carbon molecule C60 was nicknamed buckminsterfullerene for looking like one.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → French → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
geodesygeographygeologygeometry
In a sentence
In general relativity a falling body simply follows a geodesic.
The geodesic dome went up in an afternoon with six people.