Etymology

rectangle

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Today it means: Any quadrilateral having opposing sides parallel and four right angles. Full definition →

Late Latin rectangulum ← Latin rectus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromrectus“right”
  2. Late Latin · derived fromrectangulum“right angle”
  3. English todayrectangle

Borrowed from Middle French, from Old French, from Medieval Latin or Late Latin rectangulum (“right angle”), from Latin rectus (“right”) + angulus (“an angle”).

Words from the same roots

Latinrectus all →

rectifyrectusrectituderecti-rectus abdominis

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.