Can I say eight-gon, nine-gon and ten-gon instead of octa-, nona-, and deca-gon?











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As a non-native English speaker I struggle with Greek prefixes. Am I allowed to use just normal English numbers in place of them? Is it natural? Or do I have to learn how those Greek prefixes work at the end of the day?










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  • I've never heard these, but I think I would understand them if I heard them.
    – Colin Fine
    4 hours ago










  • @ColinFine up to how many Greek prefixes do you know?
    – Happy
    4 hours ago






  • 3




    You would call it an eight-sided polygon. Not eight-gon. And you could do that in a great many languages not just English. But maybe more to the point, you could also just say octagon in all these languages. So if you just learn that, you actually save yourself work in the end because everyone will understand you from New York to Paris to Berlin to Moscow. And also, those prefixes are incredibly useful for other things and pop up in all kinds of other places. Octopus, octave, October. Decade, decimal, December. You will end up learning all of them anyway. You already have.
    – RegDwigнt
    4 hours ago








  • 1




    A corollary of that is that if you do go with eight-gon and ten-gon, people won't take that to mean you're trying to make things easy for yourself. They wiill take that to mean you're trying to be difficult on purpose. Because everyone knows about the decade and the octopus. And everyone can draw the connection.
    – RegDwigнt
    4 hours ago












  • In the US, at least, you can say pretty much anything you want -- you (probably) won't be shot for it. The terms you suggest would be generally understood, and I think they are quite acceptable coming from someone who clearly has an incomplete command of the language. If, however, you will be talking in an academic environment you probably should take the effort to learn the correct terms. (Personally, I kind of detest the ordinals -- I think they should be "wonth", "tooth", "threeth", "forth", and "fifeth".)
    – Hot Licks
    4 hours ago















up vote
4
down vote

favorite
1












As a non-native English speaker I struggle with Greek prefixes. Am I allowed to use just normal English numbers in place of them? Is it natural? Or do I have to learn how those Greek prefixes work at the end of the day?










share|improve this question







New contributor




Happy is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.




















  • I've never heard these, but I think I would understand them if I heard them.
    – Colin Fine
    4 hours ago










  • @ColinFine up to how many Greek prefixes do you know?
    – Happy
    4 hours ago






  • 3




    You would call it an eight-sided polygon. Not eight-gon. And you could do that in a great many languages not just English. But maybe more to the point, you could also just say octagon in all these languages. So if you just learn that, you actually save yourself work in the end because everyone will understand you from New York to Paris to Berlin to Moscow. And also, those prefixes are incredibly useful for other things and pop up in all kinds of other places. Octopus, octave, October. Decade, decimal, December. You will end up learning all of them anyway. You already have.
    – RegDwigнt
    4 hours ago








  • 1




    A corollary of that is that if you do go with eight-gon and ten-gon, people won't take that to mean you're trying to make things easy for yourself. They wiill take that to mean you're trying to be difficult on purpose. Because everyone knows about the decade and the octopus. And everyone can draw the connection.
    – RegDwigнt
    4 hours ago












  • In the US, at least, you can say pretty much anything you want -- you (probably) won't be shot for it. The terms you suggest would be generally understood, and I think they are quite acceptable coming from someone who clearly has an incomplete command of the language. If, however, you will be talking in an academic environment you probably should take the effort to learn the correct terms. (Personally, I kind of detest the ordinals -- I think they should be "wonth", "tooth", "threeth", "forth", and "fifeth".)
    – Hot Licks
    4 hours ago













up vote
4
down vote

favorite
1









up vote
4
down vote

favorite
1






1





As a non-native English speaker I struggle with Greek prefixes. Am I allowed to use just normal English numbers in place of them? Is it natural? Or do I have to learn how those Greek prefixes work at the end of the day?










share|improve this question







New contributor




Happy is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











As a non-native English speaker I struggle with Greek prefixes. Am I allowed to use just normal English numbers in place of them? Is it natural? Or do I have to learn how those Greek prefixes work at the end of the day?







grammar grammaticality numbers mathematics






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share|improve this question







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share|improve this question




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asked 4 hours ago









Happy

311




311




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Check out our Code of Conduct.






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Check out our Code of Conduct.












  • I've never heard these, but I think I would understand them if I heard them.
    – Colin Fine
    4 hours ago










  • @ColinFine up to how many Greek prefixes do you know?
    – Happy
    4 hours ago






  • 3




    You would call it an eight-sided polygon. Not eight-gon. And you could do that in a great many languages not just English. But maybe more to the point, you could also just say octagon in all these languages. So if you just learn that, you actually save yourself work in the end because everyone will understand you from New York to Paris to Berlin to Moscow. And also, those prefixes are incredibly useful for other things and pop up in all kinds of other places. Octopus, octave, October. Decade, decimal, December. You will end up learning all of them anyway. You already have.
    – RegDwigнt
    4 hours ago








  • 1




    A corollary of that is that if you do go with eight-gon and ten-gon, people won't take that to mean you're trying to make things easy for yourself. They wiill take that to mean you're trying to be difficult on purpose. Because everyone knows about the decade and the octopus. And everyone can draw the connection.
    – RegDwigнt
    4 hours ago












  • In the US, at least, you can say pretty much anything you want -- you (probably) won't be shot for it. The terms you suggest would be generally understood, and I think they are quite acceptable coming from someone who clearly has an incomplete command of the language. If, however, you will be talking in an academic environment you probably should take the effort to learn the correct terms. (Personally, I kind of detest the ordinals -- I think they should be "wonth", "tooth", "threeth", "forth", and "fifeth".)
    – Hot Licks
    4 hours ago


















  • I've never heard these, but I think I would understand them if I heard them.
    – Colin Fine
    4 hours ago










  • @ColinFine up to how many Greek prefixes do you know?
    – Happy
    4 hours ago






  • 3




    You would call it an eight-sided polygon. Not eight-gon. And you could do that in a great many languages not just English. But maybe more to the point, you could also just say octagon in all these languages. So if you just learn that, you actually save yourself work in the end because everyone will understand you from New York to Paris to Berlin to Moscow. And also, those prefixes are incredibly useful for other things and pop up in all kinds of other places. Octopus, octave, October. Decade, decimal, December. You will end up learning all of them anyway. You already have.
    – RegDwigнt
    4 hours ago








  • 1




    A corollary of that is that if you do go with eight-gon and ten-gon, people won't take that to mean you're trying to make things easy for yourself. They wiill take that to mean you're trying to be difficult on purpose. Because everyone knows about the decade and the octopus. And everyone can draw the connection.
    – RegDwigнt
    4 hours ago












  • In the US, at least, you can say pretty much anything you want -- you (probably) won't be shot for it. The terms you suggest would be generally understood, and I think they are quite acceptable coming from someone who clearly has an incomplete command of the language. If, however, you will be talking in an academic environment you probably should take the effort to learn the correct terms. (Personally, I kind of detest the ordinals -- I think they should be "wonth", "tooth", "threeth", "forth", and "fifeth".)
    – Hot Licks
    4 hours ago
















I've never heard these, but I think I would understand them if I heard them.
– Colin Fine
4 hours ago




I've never heard these, but I think I would understand them if I heard them.
– Colin Fine
4 hours ago












@ColinFine up to how many Greek prefixes do you know?
– Happy
4 hours ago




@ColinFine up to how many Greek prefixes do you know?
– Happy
4 hours ago




3




3




You would call it an eight-sided polygon. Not eight-gon. And you could do that in a great many languages not just English. But maybe more to the point, you could also just say octagon in all these languages. So if you just learn that, you actually save yourself work in the end because everyone will understand you from New York to Paris to Berlin to Moscow. And also, those prefixes are incredibly useful for other things and pop up in all kinds of other places. Octopus, octave, October. Decade, decimal, December. You will end up learning all of them anyway. You already have.
– RegDwigнt
4 hours ago






You would call it an eight-sided polygon. Not eight-gon. And you could do that in a great many languages not just English. But maybe more to the point, you could also just say octagon in all these languages. So if you just learn that, you actually save yourself work in the end because everyone will understand you from New York to Paris to Berlin to Moscow. And also, those prefixes are incredibly useful for other things and pop up in all kinds of other places. Octopus, octave, October. Decade, decimal, December. You will end up learning all of them anyway. You already have.
– RegDwigнt
4 hours ago






1




1




A corollary of that is that if you do go with eight-gon and ten-gon, people won't take that to mean you're trying to make things easy for yourself. They wiill take that to mean you're trying to be difficult on purpose. Because everyone knows about the decade and the octopus. And everyone can draw the connection.
– RegDwigнt
4 hours ago






A corollary of that is that if you do go with eight-gon and ten-gon, people won't take that to mean you're trying to make things easy for yourself. They wiill take that to mean you're trying to be difficult on purpose. Because everyone knows about the decade and the octopus. And everyone can draw the connection.
– RegDwigнt
4 hours ago














In the US, at least, you can say pretty much anything you want -- you (probably) won't be shot for it. The terms you suggest would be generally understood, and I think they are quite acceptable coming from someone who clearly has an incomplete command of the language. If, however, you will be talking in an academic environment you probably should take the effort to learn the correct terms. (Personally, I kind of detest the ordinals -- I think they should be "wonth", "tooth", "threeth", "forth", and "fifeth".)
– Hot Licks
4 hours ago




In the US, at least, you can say pretty much anything you want -- you (probably) won't be shot for it. The terms you suggest would be generally understood, and I think they are quite acceptable coming from someone who clearly has an incomplete command of the language. If, however, you will be talking in an academic environment you probably should take the effort to learn the correct terms. (Personally, I kind of detest the ordinals -- I think they should be "wonth", "tooth", "threeth", "forth", and "fifeth".)
– Hot Licks
4 hours ago










3 Answers
3






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
3
down vote













Mathematicians do use this form for bigger numbers. The Wikipedia article Heptadecagon currently contains the phrase "a regular 51-gon, 85-gon or 255-gon and any regular n-gon with 2h times as many sides. "



And in that context, you may find mathematicians using the form for smaller numbers: in an article about polygons of different sizes, I would not be surprised to meet "5-gon" or "8-gon".



But outside mathematics, I've never heard anybody say "eight-gon" or any of the others.






share|improve this answer




























    up vote
    2
    down vote













    Short answer: no.



    Longer answer: you will probably be understood, but people will think it's strange. Almost all words in English have roots in other languages. For these words, you have correctly identified Greek as the original language. Curiously, you have taken exception with the prefixes, but not the suffix: -gon, which is also Greek.



    As a more interesting case, triangle uses the -angle suffix, which comes from Latin.
    ( tri- is both a Greek and Latin prefix.)






    share|improve this answer





















    • I wouldn't say "almost all" ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
      – Azor Ahai
      1 hour ago


















    up vote
    1
    down vote













    Older Germanic languages had very few nouns and adjectives to describe geometric shapes. English had native words for a circle, trendel and heing, an arch boga, cf. Ger. Bogen, and words for three- and four-cornered, _ þriscíte_ and, variously spelled, feoðerscéte , feðerscíte , fiðerscýte , fyðerscýte.



    Square, from Old French esquire, first entered English as a carpenter’s square mid 13th c., a square shape/area in the late 14th c., and finally as a rectangle with equal sides in the 1550s. This would suggest that a carpenter couldn’t use a square to draw the eponymous shape for well over a century.



    Triangle was borrowed directly from French in the late 13th c.



    The most common names for polygons with 5–8 sides entered English from Greek via Latin in the 1560s. This tells you a great deal about the systematic study of geometry in England as pentagonon and octagonon lost their endings to become what we call them today. You’re basically stuck with them. Such bizarre grecogermanic hybrids like *five-gon do not exist.



    Other Germanic languages went through a similar process, but the names of polygons were calqued into native words: Ger. Dreieck, lit. ‘three-corner’, just as Old English, but as nouns, Viereck, Achteck, etc. Cf. Dutch _driehoek, Danish and Norwegian trekant (same meaning, different root), but Swedish triangel.



    The Greek and Latin cardinal and ordinal numbers pop up in so many English and international words that it pays to learn them, sextuplets, quad bike, bicycle, tricycle, mononucleosis, and on and on.






    share|improve this answer





















    • I should add that to my ear ‘85-angle’ (by analogy with ‘triangle’ sounds better and makes easier sense.
      – Tuffy
      1 hour ago











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    3 Answers
    3






    active

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    3 Answers
    3






    active

    oldest

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    active

    oldest

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    active

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    up vote
    3
    down vote













    Mathematicians do use this form for bigger numbers. The Wikipedia article Heptadecagon currently contains the phrase "a regular 51-gon, 85-gon or 255-gon and any regular n-gon with 2h times as many sides. "



    And in that context, you may find mathematicians using the form for smaller numbers: in an article about polygons of different sizes, I would not be surprised to meet "5-gon" or "8-gon".



    But outside mathematics, I've never heard anybody say "eight-gon" or any of the others.






    share|improve this answer

























      up vote
      3
      down vote













      Mathematicians do use this form for bigger numbers. The Wikipedia article Heptadecagon currently contains the phrase "a regular 51-gon, 85-gon or 255-gon and any regular n-gon with 2h times as many sides. "



      And in that context, you may find mathematicians using the form for smaller numbers: in an article about polygons of different sizes, I would not be surprised to meet "5-gon" or "8-gon".



      But outside mathematics, I've never heard anybody say "eight-gon" or any of the others.






      share|improve this answer























        up vote
        3
        down vote










        up vote
        3
        down vote









        Mathematicians do use this form for bigger numbers. The Wikipedia article Heptadecagon currently contains the phrase "a regular 51-gon, 85-gon or 255-gon and any regular n-gon with 2h times as many sides. "



        And in that context, you may find mathematicians using the form for smaller numbers: in an article about polygons of different sizes, I would not be surprised to meet "5-gon" or "8-gon".



        But outside mathematics, I've never heard anybody say "eight-gon" or any of the others.






        share|improve this answer












        Mathematicians do use this form for bigger numbers. The Wikipedia article Heptadecagon currently contains the phrase "a regular 51-gon, 85-gon or 255-gon and any regular n-gon with 2h times as many sides. "



        And in that context, you may find mathematicians using the form for smaller numbers: in an article about polygons of different sizes, I would not be surprised to meet "5-gon" or "8-gon".



        But outside mathematics, I've never heard anybody say "eight-gon" or any of the others.







        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered 4 hours ago









        Colin Fine

        62.5k167157




        62.5k167157
























            up vote
            2
            down vote













            Short answer: no.



            Longer answer: you will probably be understood, but people will think it's strange. Almost all words in English have roots in other languages. For these words, you have correctly identified Greek as the original language. Curiously, you have taken exception with the prefixes, but not the suffix: -gon, which is also Greek.



            As a more interesting case, triangle uses the -angle suffix, which comes from Latin.
            ( tri- is both a Greek and Latin prefix.)






            share|improve this answer





















            • I wouldn't say "almost all" ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
              – Azor Ahai
              1 hour ago















            up vote
            2
            down vote













            Short answer: no.



            Longer answer: you will probably be understood, but people will think it's strange. Almost all words in English have roots in other languages. For these words, you have correctly identified Greek as the original language. Curiously, you have taken exception with the prefixes, but not the suffix: -gon, which is also Greek.



            As a more interesting case, triangle uses the -angle suffix, which comes from Latin.
            ( tri- is both a Greek and Latin prefix.)






            share|improve this answer





















            • I wouldn't say "almost all" ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
              – Azor Ahai
              1 hour ago













            up vote
            2
            down vote










            up vote
            2
            down vote









            Short answer: no.



            Longer answer: you will probably be understood, but people will think it's strange. Almost all words in English have roots in other languages. For these words, you have correctly identified Greek as the original language. Curiously, you have taken exception with the prefixes, but not the suffix: -gon, which is also Greek.



            As a more interesting case, triangle uses the -angle suffix, which comes from Latin.
            ( tri- is both a Greek and Latin prefix.)






            share|improve this answer












            Short answer: no.



            Longer answer: you will probably be understood, but people will think it's strange. Almost all words in English have roots in other languages. For these words, you have correctly identified Greek as the original language. Curiously, you have taken exception with the prefixes, but not the suffix: -gon, which is also Greek.



            As a more interesting case, triangle uses the -angle suffix, which comes from Latin.
            ( tri- is both a Greek and Latin prefix.)







            share|improve this answer












            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer










            answered 4 hours ago









            Ian MacDonald

            2,694815




            2,694815












            • I wouldn't say "almost all" ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
              – Azor Ahai
              1 hour ago


















            • I wouldn't say "almost all" ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
              – Azor Ahai
              1 hour ago
















            I wouldn't say "almost all" ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
            – Azor Ahai
            1 hour ago




            I wouldn't say "almost all" ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
            – Azor Ahai
            1 hour ago










            up vote
            1
            down vote













            Older Germanic languages had very few nouns and adjectives to describe geometric shapes. English had native words for a circle, trendel and heing, an arch boga, cf. Ger. Bogen, and words for three- and four-cornered, _ þriscíte_ and, variously spelled, feoðerscéte , feðerscíte , fiðerscýte , fyðerscýte.



            Square, from Old French esquire, first entered English as a carpenter’s square mid 13th c., a square shape/area in the late 14th c., and finally as a rectangle with equal sides in the 1550s. This would suggest that a carpenter couldn’t use a square to draw the eponymous shape for well over a century.



            Triangle was borrowed directly from French in the late 13th c.



            The most common names for polygons with 5–8 sides entered English from Greek via Latin in the 1560s. This tells you a great deal about the systematic study of geometry in England as pentagonon and octagonon lost their endings to become what we call them today. You’re basically stuck with them. Such bizarre grecogermanic hybrids like *five-gon do not exist.



            Other Germanic languages went through a similar process, but the names of polygons were calqued into native words: Ger. Dreieck, lit. ‘three-corner’, just as Old English, but as nouns, Viereck, Achteck, etc. Cf. Dutch _driehoek, Danish and Norwegian trekant (same meaning, different root), but Swedish triangel.



            The Greek and Latin cardinal and ordinal numbers pop up in so many English and international words that it pays to learn them, sextuplets, quad bike, bicycle, tricycle, mononucleosis, and on and on.






            share|improve this answer





















            • I should add that to my ear ‘85-angle’ (by analogy with ‘triangle’ sounds better and makes easier sense.
              – Tuffy
              1 hour ago















            up vote
            1
            down vote













            Older Germanic languages had very few nouns and adjectives to describe geometric shapes. English had native words for a circle, trendel and heing, an arch boga, cf. Ger. Bogen, and words for three- and four-cornered, _ þriscíte_ and, variously spelled, feoðerscéte , feðerscíte , fiðerscýte , fyðerscýte.



            Square, from Old French esquire, first entered English as a carpenter’s square mid 13th c., a square shape/area in the late 14th c., and finally as a rectangle with equal sides in the 1550s. This would suggest that a carpenter couldn’t use a square to draw the eponymous shape for well over a century.



            Triangle was borrowed directly from French in the late 13th c.



            The most common names for polygons with 5–8 sides entered English from Greek via Latin in the 1560s. This tells you a great deal about the systematic study of geometry in England as pentagonon and octagonon lost their endings to become what we call them today. You’re basically stuck with them. Such bizarre grecogermanic hybrids like *five-gon do not exist.



            Other Germanic languages went through a similar process, but the names of polygons were calqued into native words: Ger. Dreieck, lit. ‘three-corner’, just as Old English, but as nouns, Viereck, Achteck, etc. Cf. Dutch _driehoek, Danish and Norwegian trekant (same meaning, different root), but Swedish triangel.



            The Greek and Latin cardinal and ordinal numbers pop up in so many English and international words that it pays to learn them, sextuplets, quad bike, bicycle, tricycle, mononucleosis, and on and on.






            share|improve this answer





















            • I should add that to my ear ‘85-angle’ (by analogy with ‘triangle’ sounds better and makes easier sense.
              – Tuffy
              1 hour ago













            up vote
            1
            down vote










            up vote
            1
            down vote









            Older Germanic languages had very few nouns and adjectives to describe geometric shapes. English had native words for a circle, trendel and heing, an arch boga, cf. Ger. Bogen, and words for three- and four-cornered, _ þriscíte_ and, variously spelled, feoðerscéte , feðerscíte , fiðerscýte , fyðerscýte.



            Square, from Old French esquire, first entered English as a carpenter’s square mid 13th c., a square shape/area in the late 14th c., and finally as a rectangle with equal sides in the 1550s. This would suggest that a carpenter couldn’t use a square to draw the eponymous shape for well over a century.



            Triangle was borrowed directly from French in the late 13th c.



            The most common names for polygons with 5–8 sides entered English from Greek via Latin in the 1560s. This tells you a great deal about the systematic study of geometry in England as pentagonon and octagonon lost their endings to become what we call them today. You’re basically stuck with them. Such bizarre grecogermanic hybrids like *five-gon do not exist.



            Other Germanic languages went through a similar process, but the names of polygons were calqued into native words: Ger. Dreieck, lit. ‘three-corner’, just as Old English, but as nouns, Viereck, Achteck, etc. Cf. Dutch _driehoek, Danish and Norwegian trekant (same meaning, different root), but Swedish triangel.



            The Greek and Latin cardinal and ordinal numbers pop up in so many English and international words that it pays to learn them, sextuplets, quad bike, bicycle, tricycle, mononucleosis, and on and on.






            share|improve this answer












            Older Germanic languages had very few nouns and adjectives to describe geometric shapes. English had native words for a circle, trendel and heing, an arch boga, cf. Ger. Bogen, and words for three- and four-cornered, _ þriscíte_ and, variously spelled, feoðerscéte , feðerscíte , fiðerscýte , fyðerscýte.



            Square, from Old French esquire, first entered English as a carpenter’s square mid 13th c., a square shape/area in the late 14th c., and finally as a rectangle with equal sides in the 1550s. This would suggest that a carpenter couldn’t use a square to draw the eponymous shape for well over a century.



            Triangle was borrowed directly from French in the late 13th c.



            The most common names for polygons with 5–8 sides entered English from Greek via Latin in the 1560s. This tells you a great deal about the systematic study of geometry in England as pentagonon and octagonon lost their endings to become what we call them today. You’re basically stuck with them. Such bizarre grecogermanic hybrids like *five-gon do not exist.



            Other Germanic languages went through a similar process, but the names of polygons were calqued into native words: Ger. Dreieck, lit. ‘three-corner’, just as Old English, but as nouns, Viereck, Achteck, etc. Cf. Dutch _driehoek, Danish and Norwegian trekant (same meaning, different root), but Swedish triangel.



            The Greek and Latin cardinal and ordinal numbers pop up in so many English and international words that it pays to learn them, sextuplets, quad bike, bicycle, tricycle, mononucleosis, and on and on.







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            answered 1 hour ago









            KarlG

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            • I should add that to my ear ‘85-angle’ (by analogy with ‘triangle’ sounds better and makes easier sense.
              – Tuffy
              1 hour ago


















            • I should add that to my ear ‘85-angle’ (by analogy with ‘triangle’ sounds better and makes easier sense.
              – Tuffy
              1 hour ago
















            I should add that to my ear ‘85-angle’ (by analogy with ‘triangle’ sounds better and makes easier sense.
            – Tuffy
            1 hour ago




            I should add that to my ear ‘85-angle’ (by analogy with ‘triangle’ sounds better and makes easier sense.
            – Tuffy
            1 hour ago










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