Shapes

Most things in the world are made up of shapes, both two dimensional and three dimensional. Here are some of them.

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Ais forArc

An arc is a curved line. If an arc curves for long enough without breaking, it becomes a circle or oval.

Ais forArch

An arch is a curved, self-supporting shape usually used over doorways or to support old bridges. Arches shift the downwards force at the top of the arch to a sideways force at the bottom of the arch, so there must be a strong wall holding the base of the arch up. Arches work particularly well underground where the earth holds the sideways force. When two arches are put next to each other, the sideways forces are cancelled out, so a row of arches together e.g. under a long bridge only need thin walls or pillars holding the arches up.
The stone at the top center of an arch is usually a slightly different shape, or is more decorative. It is called the keystone.

Ais forArrow

An arrow is a projectile that is fired from a bow. Arrows have a pointed end that is used to pierce things.
An arrow is also any shape that looks like the arrow projectile. Arrows are used to point somewhere, or tell you which direction to go.

Bis forBlob

A blob is like a globule. It is something with no particular shape, used to describe a lump of something soft and squishy or something you can't quite make out, for example "at this distance, Harry was just a blob".

Bis forBump

Used as a verb, you bump into something when you hit it, but not especially hard. You might bump your knee on your coffee table if you are walking around your living room in the dark.
As a noun, a bump is a raised, slightly rounded area on something else. The stone pillar in the picture has a lot of bumps carved into it.

Cis forCircle

A circle is a shape with one long, curved edge that is the same size in all directions. Things that are like a circle are often called round. The circle in this picture is the top of a bottle.

Cis forCoil

A coil is a word used to describe something that is in loops on top of each other to form a helix or loops around each other to form a spiral.
The photo is of a rope coiled into a spiral.

Cis forConcave

A surface is concave if it curves inwards, forming a hollow. The coin slot in the picture is concave.
The opposite of concave is convex.

Cis forCone

A cone is a shape with a round bottom that gets smaller as it goes until it reaches a point. If you cut a slice through a cone parallel to the bottom, it will be the same shape as the bottom. If you cut a slice through the cone vertically going through the top point, you will get a triangle.
Many things are cone shaped. volcanos tend to be cone-shaped, pinecones and pine trees like the ones in the picture are cone-shaped, and of course traffic cones are cone shaped.

Cis forConvex

A surface is convex if it curves outwards, forming a mound. Mirrors are often made convex so that they offer a larger field of view.
The opposite of convex is concave.

Cis forCorner

Corners are where two or more surfaces or lines meet, usually at right angles. A square has four corners, a cube has six, and a circle has none. The frogs are hiding in the corner of their tank.

Cis forCrescent

A crescent is a shape that is part of a circle, but wider in the center and narrowing to a point at the ends. As the moon wanes it becomes a crescent.

Cis forCross

A cross is a shape made by crossing two straight lines. Crosses are often built out of two pieces of wood nailed together. The Christian cross usually seen on top of churches has the horizontal part of the cross much shorter than the vertical part.

Cis forCube

A cube is a three dimensional shape that is square on every side. A cube has six sides, or faces. There are many cubes around you every day. Can you see some now?

Cis forCurl

Something is curled if it goes around in a series of loops, either in a helix or a spiral. The curls in the picture are more of a helix, wheras a fern frond uncurling is more of a spiral.

Cis forCurve

A curve is a line that bends to one side or the other along its length. The opposite of curved is straight.

Cis forCylinder

A cylinder is a long, thin shape where the ends are circles. Any cross-section of a cylinder at right angles to its outer surface is also a circle.
Long cylinders are also known as tubes. Pipes are also cylinders. The cylinder you see the most often is, of course, the cardboard tube at the centre of a roll of toilet paper.
A diamond, or rhombus is a four-sided shape, like a square turned on its side. All four sides of a rhombus are the same length but the angles on the corners do not have to be 90 degrees like in a square, the rhombus can be taller than it is wide or wider than it is tall.

The window in the picture is diamond-shaped.

A diamond is also a kind of precious stone.

Dis forDisk

A disk is a three dimensional shape that is round and mostly flat. Things that are disk-shaped include plates and frisbees.

Dis forDome

A dome is a shape that is half a sphere. One side of a dome is flat, and is the shape of a circle. If you turn a salad bowl upside down it is dome shaped. A dome made out of shapes that doesn't have a smooth surface is a geodesic dome.