Meanings
plural 5-cells
- geometryA four-dimensional polytope, analogous to a tetrahedron, whose five bounding facets are tetrahedra.
In every vertex of the 5-cell, 8-cell and 120-cell there are 4 concurring edges; in every vertex of the 24-cell, 8 edges.
1896, American Journal of Mathematics, page 1813 more examples
For example, a 5-cell is bounded by five three-dimensional tetrahedra, an 8-cell by eight cubes, etc., the 5-cell and the 24-cell being duals of each other (the points correspond to spaces and lines to planes).
1988, L. A. Sidorov, “Confuguration”, in Unnamed, transl., edited by Michiel Hazewinkel, Encyclopaedia of Mathematics: An updated and annotated translation of the Soviet ‘Mathematical Encyclopaedia’, Volume 2: C, page 309If we call a regular polytope with m facets an m-cell, then in E⁴ we have the 5-cell with tetrahedral facets (the simplex), the 8-cell with cubic facets (the hypercube), the 16-cell with tetrahedral facets (the regular cross-polytope), the 24-cell with octahedral facets, the 120-cell with dodecahedral facets, and the 600-cell with tetrahedral facets.
2007, Steven R. Lay, Convex Sets and Their Applications, page 230Later in the same document, President Hall listed all of the university's four-dimensional models: four Brill models—the 5-cell, 8-cell, 16-cell, and 24-cell—along with seven spun glass models by T. P. Hall that "illustrated rotations."
2008, Tony Robbin, Shadows of Reality: The Fourth Dimension in Relativity, Cubism, and Modern Thought, page 16Synonyms: 4-simplex, pentachoron, pentahedroid, pentatope, tetrahedral pyramid
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA four-dimensional polytope, analogous to a tetrahedron, whose five bounding facets are tetrahedra.
Origin
Translations
Esperanto kvinĉelo
- kvinĉelofour-dimensional polytope analogous to a tetrahedron
Italian 5-cella, ipertetraedro
- 5-cellafour-dimensional polytope analogous to a tetrahedron
- ipertetraedrofour-dimensional polytope analogous to a tetrahedron
- pentacorofour-dimensional polytope analogous to a tetrahedron
Japanese 正五胞体
- 正五胞体 (seigohōtai)four-dimensional polytope analogous to a tetrahedron
Korean 정오포체
- 정오포체 (jeong'opoche)four-dimensional polytope analogous to a tetrahedron
Polish pięciościan czterowymiarowy
- pięciościan czterowymiarowyfour-dimensional polytope analogous to a tetrahedron
Cite this entry
5-cell. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/5-cell
“5-cell.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/5-cell. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “5-cell,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/5-cell.
Source: 5-cell on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.