Formerly the tangram was a game based on the positioning together of different sized tea tables during the Sung and Ming dynasties, "but Joseph Needham suggests that the name stems from the appearance of Chinese windows.
按說七巧板前身是宋時的「燕（宴）幾圖」，乃至明朝的「蝶幾圖」，「李約瑟卻認為這譯名可能與中國窗子有關，不過也是點到為止。