What are faces, edges and vertices?

These three words describe the parts of a solid shape. A face is a flat surface, an edge is the straight line where two faces meet, and a vertex is a corner where edges meet. A cube, for example, has 6 faces, 12 edges and 8 vertices.

Examples

• A cube has 6 faces, 12 edges and 8 vertices.
• A square-based pyramid has 5 faces, 8 edges and 5 vertices.
• A cylinder has 2 flat faces and no vertices.

Quick facts

• The plural of vertex is vertices.
• A face is a flat surface, an edge is a line, and a vertex is a corner.