Snub polyhedron
A snub polyhedron is a polyhedron obtained by alternating a corresponding omnitruncated or truncated polyhedron, depending on the definition. Some but not all authors include antiprisms as snub polyhedra, as they are obtained by this construction from a degenerate "polyhedron" with only two faces.
Chiral snub polyhedra do not always have reflection symmetry and hence sometimes have two enantiomorphous forms which are reflections of each other. Their symmetry groups are all point groups.
For example, the snub cube:
Snub polyhedra have Wythoff symbol | p q r and by extension, vertex configuration 3.p.3.q.3.r. Retrosnub polyhedra still have this form of Wythoff symbol, but their vertex configurations are instead /2.
List of snub polyhedra
Uniform
There are 12 uniform snub polyhedra, not including the antiprisms, the icosahedron as a snub tetrahedron, the great icosahedron as a retrosnub tetrahedron and the great disnub dirhombidodecahedron, also known as Skilling's figure.When the Schwarz triangle of the snub polyhedron is isosceles, the snub polyhedron is not chiral. This is the case for the antiprisms, the icosahedron, the great icosahedron, the small snub icosicosidodecahedron, and the small retrosnub icosicosidodecahedron.
In the pictures of the snub derivation where green is not present, the faces derived from alternation are coloured red and yellow, while the snub triangles are blue. Where green is present, the faces derived from alternation are red, yellow, and blue, while the snub triangles are green.
| Snub polyhedron | Image | Original omnitruncated polyhedron | Image | Snub derivation | Symmetry group | Wythoff symbol Vertex description |
| Icosahedron | Truncated octahedron | Ih | | 3 3 2 3.3.3.3.3 | |||
| Great icosahedron | Truncated octahedron | Ih | | 2 3/2 3/2 /2 | |||
| Snub cube or snub cuboctahedron | Truncated cuboctahedron | O | | 4 3 2 3.3.3.3.4 | |||
| Snub dodecahedron or snub icosidodecahedron | Truncated icosidodecahedron | I | | 5 3 2 3.3.3.3.5 | |||
| Small snub icosicosidodecahedron | Doubly covered truncated icosahedron | Ih | | 3 3 5/2 3.3.3.3.3.5/2 | |||
| Snub dodecadodecahedron | Small rhombidodecahedron with extra 12 faces | I | | 5 5/2 2 3.3.5/2.3.5 | |||
| Snub icosidodecadodecahedron | Icositruncated dodecadodecahedron | I | | 5 3 5/3 3.5/3.3.3.3.5 | |||
| Great snub icosidodecahedron | Rhombicosahedron with extra 12 faces | I | | 3 5/2 2 3.3.5/2.3.3 | |||
| Inverted snub dodecadodecahedron | Truncated dodecadodecahedron | I | | 5 2 5/3 3.5/3.3.3.3.5 | |||
| Great snub dodecicosidodecahedron | Great dodecicosahedron with extra 12 faces | no image yet | I | | 3 5/2 5/3 3.5/3.3.5/2.3.3 | ||
| Great inverted snub icosidodecahedron | Great truncated icosidodecahedron | I | | 3 2 5/3 3.5/3.3.3.3 | |||
| Small retrosnub icosicosidodecahedron | Doubly covered truncated icosahedron | no image yet | Ih | | 5/2 3/2 3/2 /2 | ||
| Great retrosnub icosidodecahedron | Great rhombidodecahedron with extra 20 faces | no image yet | I | | 2 5/3 3/2 /2 | ||
| Great dirhombicosidodecahedron | — | — | — | Ih | | 3/2 5/3 3 5/2 /2 | |
| Great disnub dirhombidodecahedron | — | — | — | Ih | | 5/3 5/2 /2 |
Notes:
- The icosahedron, snub cube and snub dodecahedron are the only three convex ones. They are obtained by snubification of the truncated octahedron, truncated cuboctahedron and the truncated icosidodecahedron - the three convex truncated quasiregular polyhedra.
- The only snub polyhedron with the chiral octahedral group of symmetries is the snub cube.
- Only the icosahedron and the great icosahedron are also regular polyhedra. They are also deltahedra.
- Only the icosahedron, great icosahedron, small snub icosicosidodecahedron, small retrosnub icosicosidodecahedron, great dirhombicosidodecahedron, and great disnub dirhombidodecahedron also have reflective symmetries.
| Snub polyhedron | Image | Original omnitruncated polyhedron | Image | Snub derivation | Symmetry group | Wythoff symbol Vertex description |
| Tetrahedron | Cube | Td | | 2 2 2 3.3.3 | |||
| Octahedron | Hexagonal prism | Oh | | 3 2 2 3.3.3.3 | |||
| Square antiprism | Octagonal prism | D4d | | 4 2 2 3.4.3.3 | |||
| Pentagonal antiprism | Decagonal prism | D5d | | 5 2 2 3.5.3.3 | |||
| Pentagrammic antiprism | Doubly covered pentagonal prism | D5h | | 5/2 2 2 3.5/2.3.3 | |||
| Pentagrammic crossed-antiprism | Decagrammic prism | D5d | | 2 2 5/3 3.5/3.3.3 | |||
| Hexagonal antiprism | Dodecagonal prism | D6d | | 6 2 2 3.6.3.3 |
Notes:
- Two of these polyhedra may be constructed from the first two snub polyhedra in the list starting with the icosahedron: the pentagonal antiprism is a parabidiminished icosahedron and a pentagrammic crossed-antiprism is a parabidiminished great icosahedron, also known as a parabireplenished great icosahedron.
Non-uniform
| Snub polyhedron | Image | Original polyhedron | Image | Symmetry group |
| Snub disphenoid | Disphenoid | D2d | ||
| Snub square antiprism | Square antiprism | D4d |