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Glossary of shapes with metaphorical names

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Many shapes have metaphorical names, i.e., their names are metaphors: these shapes are named after a most common object that has it. For example, "U-shape" is a shape that resembles the letter U, a bell-shaped curve has the shape of the vertical cross section of a bell, etc. These terms may variously refer to objects, their cross sections or projections.

Contents

• Types of shapes

• Numbers and letters

• See also

• References

Types of shapes

Curves

Some of these names are "classical terms", i.e., words of Latin or Ancient Greek etymology. Others are English language constructs (although the base words may have non-English etymology). In some disciplines, where shapes of subjects in question are a very important consideration, the shape naming may be quite elaborate, see, e.g., the taxonomy of shapes of plant leaves in botany.

• Astroid

• Aquiline, shaped like an eagle's beak (as in a Roman nose)

• Bell-shaped curve

• Biconic shape, a shape in a way opposite to the hourglass: it is based on two oppositely oriented cones or truncated cones with their bases joined; the cones are not necessarily the same

• Bowtie shape, in two dimensions

• Atmospheric reentry apparatus

• Centerbody of an inlet cone in ramjets

• Bow shape

• Bow curve

• Bullet Nosecite-ref-1[1] an open-ended hourglass

• Butterfly curve (algebraic)cite-ref-2[2]

• Cocked hat curve, also known as Bicorncite-ref-3[3]

• Cone (from the Greek word for « pine cone »)

• Doughnut shape

• Egg-shaped, see "Oval", below

• Geoid (From Greek Ge (γη) for "Earth"), the term specifically introduced to denote the approximation of the shape of the Earth, which is approximately spherical, but not exactly so

• Heart shape, long been used for its varied symbolism

• Horseshoe-shaped or hippocrepiform, resembling a horseshoe, cf. horseshoe (disambiguation). In botany, also called lecotropal (see below)

• Hourglass shape or hourglass figure, the one that resembles an hourglass; nearly symmetric shape wide at its ends and narrow in the middle; some flat shapes may be alternatively compared to the figure eight or hourglass

• Dog bone shape, an hourglass with rounded endscite-ref-4[4]

• Hourglass corset

• Ntama

• Engraved Hourglass Nebula

• Inverted bell

• Kite

• Lecotropal, in botany, shaped like a horseshoe (see horseshoe-shaped, above). From Greek λέκος dish + -τροπος turningcite-ref-5[5]cite-ref-6[6]cite-ref-7[7]

• Lens or Vesica shape (the latter taking its name from the shape of the lentil seed); see also mandorla, almond-shaped

• Lune, from the Latin word for the Moon

• Maltese Cross curvecite-ref-8[8]

• Mandorla, almond-shaped (Italian for "almond"), often used as a frame in mediaeval Christian iconography.

• Mushroom shape, which became infamous as a result of the mushroom cloudcite-ref-mathematics-9-0[9]

• Oval (from the Latin "ovum" for egg), a descriptive term applied to several kinds of "rounded" shapes, including the egg shape

• Pear shaped, in reference to the shape of a pear, i.e., a generally rounded shape, tapered towards the top and more spherical/circular at the bottom

• Rod, a 3-dimensional, solid (filled) cylinder

• Rod shaped bacteria

• Scarabaeus curvecite-ref-10[10] resembling a scarab

• Serpentine, shaped like a snake

• Stadium, two half-circles joined by straight sidescite-ref-11[11]

• Stirrup curvecite-ref-12[12]

• Star a figure with multiple sharp points

• Sunburst

• Tomahawk

• Ungula, shaped like a horse's hoof

Numbers and letters

• A-shape, the shape that resembles the capital letter A