entry
rectangle
/ˈrɛktæŋɡəl/Four-sided figure with four right angles
From Latin rect- (right) + Latin angle (corner).
from Latin rectus (“right”) + angulus (“an angle”).
from French rectangle (16c.)
Word Ancestry
from Latin rectus (“right”) + angulus (“an angle”).
from French rectangle (16c.)
Geometry gives us a wonderfully literal little construction: rect- contributes “right,” while angle contributes “corner,” so a rectangle is essentially a “right-corner thing.” The angular half wandered through Latin angulus and Old French angle, while its distant Germanic relatives include the ancestor of ankle—another word associated with a bend or joint. Medieval mathematicians used related Latin forms such as rectangulum, and by the 1570s English had settled on rectangle for the familiar four-sided figure. Euclid and later geometers could treat a square as a special rectangle, but everyday English usually pictures the longer, non-square version. Remember it as a shape whose name is an instruction: make every corner right.
The Story
Geometry gives us a wonderfully literal little construction: rect- contributes “right,” while angle contributes “corner,” so a rectangle is essentially a “right-corner thing.” The angular half wandered through Latin angulus and Old French angle, while its distant Germanic relatives include the ancestor of ankle—another word associated with a bend or joint. Medieval mathematicians used related Latin forms such as rectangulum, and by the 1570s English had settled on rectangle for the familiar four-sided figure. Euclid and later geometers could treat a square as a special rectangle, but everyday English usually pictures the longer, non-square version. Remember it as a shape whose name is an instruction: make every corner right.
Modern Usage
An obscene Urban Dictionary usage referring to aggressive anal sex; another joking entry personifies rectangles as lanky squares.
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entries supplied in the research data
Kin & Kindred
From 'rect-'·right, straight
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'angle'·corner, angle
Derived Terms
English words from this root