Geometric spin frustration (GSF) in isolated plaquettes with local spin s, i.e., an equilateral-triangle spin trimer and a regular-tetrahedron spin tetramer, was examined on the basis of classical spin and quantum-mechanical descriptions to clarify their differences and similarities. An analytical proof was given for how the state degeneracy and the total spin S of their ground states depend on the local spin s. The quantum-mechanical conditions for the occurrence of GSF in isolated plaquettes were clarified, and their implications were explored. Corner sharing between plaquettes and how it affects GSF in the resulting spin systems was examined. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.