simplex

See also: Simplex

English

WOTD – 18 April 2025

Etymology

A set of walkie-talkies illustrates simplex (adjective sense 3) wireless communication. Only one user can talk at a time while the other user listens, as the radio signal can only carry information in one direction.

    The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin simplex (“plain, simple; single”).[1][2] The first part, sim-, comes from Proto-Indo-European *sem-, *sm̥- (“one; together”). The second part, -plex, may be from *pleḱ- (“to weave”).

    The noun is derived from the adjective.[1][3] The plural forms simplices and simplicia are learned borrowings from Latin simplicēs (masculine or feminine) and simplicia (neuter), respectively plural forms of simplex.

    Noun sense 1 (“generalization of a triangle or tetrahedron to an arbitrary dimension”) was apparently coined by the Dutch mathematician Pieter Hendrik Schoute (1846–1913) as a short version of Simplicissimum in Mehrdimensionale Geometrie (in German, 1902).[4] (In his pioneering works on algebraic topology, the French mathematician Henri Poincaré (1854–1912) had previously introduced the concept, but not the actual term simplex.)[5]

    Pronunciation 1

    • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈsɪmplɛks/
    • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈsɪmˌplɛks/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)
    • Audio (US):(file)
    • Hyphenation: sim‧plex

    Adjective

    simplex (not comparable)

    1. (dated) Having a single structure; not composite or complex; undivided, unitary.
      Synonyms: monoplex, uniplex
      Antonym: complex
    2. (anatomy, historical) Of an eye: (supposedly) having pigment on only the posterior surface of the iris and not the anterior surface, and thus appearing blue; this was later found to be inaccurate, as eye colour is due to the amount of pigment in the anterior surface of the iris; also, of eye pigmentation: present only on the posterior surface of the iris; and of a person: having eyes with this form of pigmentation.
      Antonym: duplex
    4. (computing, telecommunications) Of a circuit or device: involving signals which travel in one direction at a time; unidirectional.
      Antonyms: bidirectional, duplex
      Coordinate terms: full duplex, half-duplex, semiduplex
    5. (genetics)
      1. Of a polyploid organism: having one dominant allele at a given locus on all homologous chromosomes.
        Coordinate terms: duplex, nulliplex, triplex
      2. (archaic or obsolete) Synonym of heterozygous (“of an organism: having two different alleles in a given gene”).
    6. (linguistics) Of a word: having no (derivational) affixes; simple, monomorphemic, uncompounded.
      Antonym: polymorphemic
    7. (originally and chiefly US) Of an apartment (or, sometimes, another type of property): having only one floor or storey; single-storey.
      Coordinate terms: duplex, triplex
    Derived terms
    Translations

    Pronunciation 2

    Noun

    simplex (plural simplexes or (algebraic topology, geometry, linguistics) simplices or simplicia)

    Models of 0-dimensional to 3-dimensional simplexes (sense 1).
    Examples (algebraic topology, geometry)
    2. (algebraic topology, geometry) A generalization of a triangle or tetrahedron to an arbitrary dimension; more accurately, the convex hull of n+1 affinely independent points in n-dimensional space.
    3. (linguistics)
      1. A word which is not compound and contains no derivational affixes (inflectional affixes are usually disregarded); a monomorphemic word.
        The word weak is a simplex. Its derivative weaken is not.
      2. (grammar, archaic) In full simplex sentence: in transformational grammar: a simple sentence which is the product of a few transformations; a kernel sentence.
        • 1978, Helga Harries-Delisle, “Contrastive Emphasis and Cleft Sentences”, in Joseph H[arold] Greenberg, editor, Universals of Human Language, volume 4 (Syntax), Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 460:
          The question is: is 139. [“Priexal Vanja. ‘arrived Vanya’”] a simplex or is it a cleft structure in which all 'superfluous' constituents were deleted. […] The only indication that 139. is a simplex is the sentence intonation and the absence of a break between the verb and the subject.
          A modified version of a paper published in Working Papers on Language Universals (November 1973), number 12, pages 85–144.
    4. (originally and chiefly US) An apartment (or, sometimes, another type of property) having only one floor or storey; a single-storey property.
      Coordinate terms: duplex, triplex
    Synonyms
    The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. For synonyms and antonyms you may use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}}.
    Derived terms
    Translations

    References

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “simplex, adj. and n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2024.
    2. ^ “simplex, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
    3. ^ “simplex, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
    4. ^ P[ieter] H[endrik] Schoute (1902), “Grundbegriffe [Basic Concepts]”, in Mehrdimensionale Geometrie [Multidimensional Geometry] (Sammlung Schubert; XXXV) (in German), 1st part (Die linearen Räume [The Linear Spaces]), Leipzig, Saxony: G[eorg] J[oachim] Göschen’sche Verlagshandlung, →OCLC, paragraph 8, page 10: “Wir ziehen de namen ‚Simplicissimum‘ das viel kürzere Simplex vor und deuten das Simplex mit d+1 Eckpunkten mittels des Symboles S(d+1) an. ― We prefer the name ‘simplicissimum’ to the much shorter simplex and indicate the simplex with d+1 vertices using the symbol S(d+1).”
    5. ^ Edmund [Frederick] Robertson, John O’Connor (December 2023), “SIMPLEX”, in MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive: Earliest Known Uses of Some of the Words of Mathematics‎[1], archived from the original on 25 December 2023.

    Further reading

    French

    Etymology

      Learned borrowing from Latin simplex.

      Pronunciation

      • IPA(key): /sɛ̃.plɛks/
      • Audio (France (Vosges)):(file)
      • Rhymes: -ɛks
      • Homophone: simplexe
      • Hyphenation: sim‧plex

      Noun

      simplex m (invariable)

      1. (telecommunications) simplex
        Antonym: multiplex

      Latin

      Latin numbers (edit)
      10[a], [b]
      I
      1       		2  → [a], [b], [c] 10  → [a], [b]
          Cardinal: ūnus
          Ordinal: prīmus
          Adverbial: semel
          Proportional: simplus
          Multiplier: simplex
          Distributive: singulus, prīvus
          Collective: ūniō
          Fractional: integer

      Etymology

      Etymology tree
      Proto-Indo-European *sem-
      Proto-Indo-European *sm̥-der.
      Latin sem-
      Proto-Indo-European *pel-der.?
      Latin -plex
      Latin simplex

        From sem- (“one; single-”) +‎ -plex (“-fold”). The first element (from Proto-Indo-European *sem-, *sm̥-) does not occur independently in Latin, but is also seen in semel (“once”) and semper (“always, forever”). De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *sm̥-plak-s,[1] but also reconstructs Proto-Italic *-plek-s.[2]

        Pronunciation

        Adjective

        simplex (genitive simplicis, comparative simplicior, superlative simplicissimus, adverb simpliciter); third-declension one-termination adjective

        1. single
        2. simple, plain, uncompounded
        3. pure, unmixed
        4. sincere, naive, frank, open, without guile, guileless, unsuspecting, innocent
          • 8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 2.225–226:
            male crēditis hostī: simplex nōbilitās, perfida tēla cavē!
            You do wrong to trust the enemy: Guileless nobles, beware of treacherous weapons!
        5. (mathematics) prime
          • Isidore of Seville, Etymologies 3.5.7:
            Simplices sunt, qui nullam aliam partem habent nisi solam unitatem, ut ternarius solam tertiam, et quinarius solam quintam, et septenarius solam septimam. His enim una pars sola est.
            Prime numbers cannot be partitioned by any other number except one; three has only three, five only five, and seven only seven. For these numbers there is one sole part.

        Declension

        Third-declension one-termination adjective.

        singular plural
        masc./fem. neuter masc./fem. neuter
        nominative simplex simplicēs simplicia
        genitive simplicis simplicium
        dative simplicī simplicibus
        accusative simplicem simplex simplicīs
        simplicēs         		simplicia
        ablative simplicī
        simplice         		simplicibus
        vocative simplex simplicēs simplicia

        Derived terms

        Descendants

        • Italo-Romance:
          • Italian: sempice, semprice, semplice (latinized)
            • →? Friulian: sempliç
          • Sicilian: sìmprici
        • Old Galician-Portuguese: simplez
        • → English: simplex
        • → Portuguese: símplice (learned)

        References

        1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “-sem-, sim-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 553
        2. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “-plex”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 473

        Further reading

        Romanian

        Etymology

          Borrowed from French simplex.

          Pronunciation

          • IPA(key): /ˈsim.pleks/
          • Rhymes: -impleks
          • Hyphenation: sim‧plex

          Noun

          simplex n (uncountable)

          1. simplex

          Declension

          singular only indefinite definite
          nominative-accusative simplex simplexul
          genitive-dative simplex simplexului
          vocative simplexule

          Further reading

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