convex

English

Top: a spoon with its convex side up.
Bottom: a spoon with its concave side up.

A convex set. For any points x and y within the set, the connecting line lies within the set.

A convex polygon.

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French convexe, from Latin convexus (“arched”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒn.vɛks/, /kɒnˈvɛks/, /kənˈvɛks/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑn.vɛks/, /kɑnˈvɛks/, /kənˈvɛks/

Adjective

convex (comparative more convex, superlative most convex)

1. Curved or bowed outward like the outside of a bowl, circle, or sphere.
   • 1837, William Whewell, “Earliest Stages of Astronomy”, in History of the Inductive Sciences, from the Earliest to the Present Times. […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […]; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: J. and J. J. Deighton, →OCLC, book III (History of Greek Astronomy), section 9 (The Globular Form of the Earth), page 150:

     [D]rops of water naturally form themselves into figures with a convex surface; […]

2. (functional analysis, not comparable, of a real-valued function on the reals) having an epigraph that is a convex set.
3. (geometry, not comparable, of a polygon) having no internal angles greater than 180 degrees.
4. (mathematics, not comparable, of a set in Euclidean space) arranged such that for any two points in the set, a straight line between the two points is contained within the set.

Antonyms

• concave

Derived terms

• biconvex
• concavo-convex
• convex combination
• convexedly
• convex envelope
• convex function
• convex hull
• convexification
• convexify
• convexity
• convex lens
• convexly
• convexness
• convexoconcave
• convexoconvex
• convexoplane
• convex set
• double-convex
• equiconvex
• hyperconvex
• nonconvex
• plano-convex
• planoconvex
• polyconvex
• pseudoconvex
• quasiconvex
• semiconvex
• subconvex

 

Translations

curved or bowed outward like the outside of a bowl, circle, or sphere

• Arabic: مُحَدَّب (muḥaddab)
• Armenian: ուռուցիկ (hy) (uṙucʻik)
• Asturian: convexu
• Bengali: উত্তল (bn) (uttol)
• Bulgarian: изпъкнал (bg) (izpǎknal)
• Catalan: convex (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 凸 (zh) (tū)

• Cornish: bothgrom
• Czech: vypouklý, vypuklý, konvexní (cs)
• Danish: konveks
• Dutch: bol (nl)
• Esperanto: malkava, konveksa
• Estonian: kumer
• Finnish: kupera (fi)
• French: convexe (fr)
• Galician: convexo, comba (gl)
• German: konvex (de), nach außen gewölbt
• Greek: κυρτός (el) (kyrtós)

  Ancient: κυρτός (kurtós)

• Hawaiian: ʻeʻemu
• Hebrew: קעור (qa'ur)
• Hindi: उत्तल (uttal), गुंबद (hi) (gumbad), उन्नतोदर (hi) (unnatodar)
• Hungarian: domború (hu), konvex (hu)
• Icelandic: kúptur, ávalur
• Ingrian: kupera
• Italian: convesso (it)
• Japanese: 凸面 (とつめん, totsumen)
• Kannada: ನಿಮ್ನದರ್ಪಣ (nimnadarpaṇa)
• Korean: 볼록한 (bollokhan)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: qoqiz (ku)

• Latin: convexus
• Lithuanian: išgaubtas
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: konveks (no)

  Nynorsk: konveks

• Occitan: convèx (oc)
• Persian: کوژ (fa)
• Polish: wypukły (pl)
• Portuguese: convexo (pt)
• Romanian: convex (ro)
• Russian: вы́пуклый (ru) (výpuklyj)
• Sindhi: گھُٻيل (sd)
• Slovak: konvexný
• Slovene: konveksen (sl)
• Spanish: convexo (es)
• Swedish: konvex (sv)
• Tagalog: malukob
• Thai: นูน (th) (nuun)
• Turkish: konveks (tr), dışbükey (tr)
• Welsh: amgrwm (cy) m, amgrom f

Noun

convex (plural convexes)

1. Any convex body or surface.
   • 1714, Royal Progress, Thomas Tickell:

     Half heaven's convex glitters with the flame.

2. (gambling) A playing card made convex for use in cheating.

   Coordinate term: concave

3. (gambling) A small convex mirror used to cheat by observing other players' cards.

   Synonym: shiner

   • 2019, John Philip Quinn, Fools of Fortune; or, Gambling and Gamblers:

     Of all the devices for defrauding at poker, the “shiner,” or “convex” […] Modern convexes are also considerably larger than those of former days.

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “convex”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin convexus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kumˈbɛks]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [koɱˈvɛks]

Adjective

convex (feminine convexa, masculine plural convexos, feminine plural convexes)

1. convex

   Antonym: còncau

Related terms

• convexitat

Further reading

• “convex” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French convexe, from Latin convexus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔnˈvɛks/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: con‧vex
• Rhymes: -ɛks

Adjective

convex (comparative convexer, superlative meest convex or convext)

1. convex

   Synonym: bolrond

   Antonym: concaaf

Inflection

Declension of convex
uninflected	convex
inflected	convexe
comparative	convexer
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		convex	convexer	het convext het convexte
indefinite	m./f. sing.	convexe	convexere	convexte
	n. sing.	convex	convexer	convexte
	plural	convexe	convexere	convexte
definite		convexe	convexere	convexte
partitive		convex	convexers	—

Derived terms

• biconvex
• convexiteit

Descendants

• → Indonesian: konvèks

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French convexe, from Latin convexus.

Adjective

convex m or n (feminine singular convexă, masculine plural convecși, feminine and neuter plural convexe)

1. convex

Declension

Declension of convex

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	convex		convexă	convecși	convexe
	definite	convexul		convexa	convecșii	convexele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	convex		convexe	convecși	convexe
	definite	convexului		convexei	convecșilor	convexelor