Hypotenuse
//haɪˈpɑtənus// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The side of a right triangle opposite the right angle.
- 2 the side of a right triangle opposite the right angle wordnet
Example
More examples"The sum of the squares of the legs is equal to the square of the hypotenuse."
Etymology
From Latin hypotenusa, from Ancient Greek ὑποτείνουσα πλευρά (hupoteínousa pleurá, “side subtending [the right angle]”), from ὑποτείνουσα (hupoteínousa, “stretching, extending, subtending”), active participle of ὑποτείνω (hupoteínō, “subtend, stretch under”).
Related phrases
More for "hypotenuse"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.