homothety
|ho-mo-the-ty|
🇺🇸
/ˌhoʊməˈθɛti/
🇬🇧
/ˌhɒməˈθɛti/
centered scaling
Etymology
'homothety' originates from French, specifically the word 'homothétie', where the prefix 'homo-' came from Greek 'homos' meaning 'same' and the root relates to Greek 'tithenai/thesis' meaning 'to place'.
'homothétie' in French developed from Greek formation elements (e.g. 'homos' + a form related to 'tithenai'), passed into scientific/technical usage in modern European languages and entered English as 'homothety'.
Initially based on components meaning 'same' and 'placing', the term evolved in modern mathematical usage to mean specifically a 'same-centered scaling' (a dilation about a center).
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a similarity transformation (dilation) with respect to a fixed center that multiplies all distances from the center by a constant factor; a centered scaling.
The homothety with center O and ratio 2 maps triangle ABC to triangle A'B'C'.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/10/19 05:59