Etymology

From Byzantine Greek τραπέζιν ‎(trapézin), from Ancient Greek τραπέζιον ‎(trapézion, “small table”), diminutive of τράπεζα ‎(trápeza, “a table”). This is conventionally taken to be from a (virtual?) τετράπεζα ‎(tetrápeza, “four-footed”), from τετράς ‎(tetrás, “four”) and πέζα ‎(péza, “-footed, -legged”), from πούς ‎(poús, “a foot”). Sihler (1995) instead relates the first element to τρεῖς ‎(treîs, “three”), noting that early tables had three legs, not four. Confer English trapeze, trapezium, trapezophoron.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tɾaˈpɛzi]
• Hyphenation: τρα‧πέ‧ζι