Johnson solid

noun

Any of a class of convex polyhedra that have regular faces but are not uniform (that is, not Platonic solids, Archimedean solids, prisms, or antiprisms).

Meanings

nounJohnson solid (plural Johnson solids)

plural Johnson solids

  1. geometryAny of a class of convex polyhedra that have regular faces but are not uniform (that is, not Platonic solids, Archimedean solids, prisms, or antiprisms).

    1986 April, Andrew Hume, Folding Regular Polyhedra, AUUGN: Australian Unix Users Group Newsletter, Volume 6, Number 5, page 40, The Johnson solids, combined with the Archimedean polyhedra and five of the regular polyhedra, constitute all the possible convex polyhedra with regular faces..])

    2 more examples

    There are other possible models that we have not written about and for which we do not include pictures. namely the Johnson solids and their truncations [2]. (The egg^([truncated hexadecahedron]) is an approximation of a truncation of a Johnson solid.)

    2003, Rona Gurkewitz, Bennett Arnstein, Multimodular Origami Polyhedra: Archimedeans, Buckyballs and Duality, page 2

    Students will be very unlikely to discover very many of the Johnson solids on their own. Someone may come up with the triangular and pentagonal dipyramids, but the others are just not very intuitive. Once students are convinced that there are no other possibilities than the ones they've come up with, then it is time to unveil some of the more complicated Johnson solids.

    2012, Thomas Hull, Project Origami: Activities for Exploring Mathematics, 2nd edition, page 159

    Synonyms: Johnson polyhedron

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAny of a class of convex polyhedra that have regular faces but are not uniform (that is, not Platonic solids, Archimedean solids, prisms, or antiprisms).

Origin

From Johnson (“a surname”) + solid, after American mathematician Norman Johnson, who listed them in 1966.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Italian solido di Johnson
  • solido di Johnsonconvex non-uniform polyhedron that has regular faces
Japanese ジョンソンの立体
  • ジョンソンの立体 (jonson no rittai)convex non-uniform polyhedron that has regular faces
Polish wielościan Johnsona
  • wielościan Johnsonaconvex non-uniform polyhedron that has regular faces
Cite this entry
APA

Johnson solid. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Johnson%20solid

MLA

“Johnson solid.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Johnson%20solid. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Johnson solid,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Johnson%20solid.

Source: Johnson solid on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.