# What do you call a 3D rectangle? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 12, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526 "2003-08-12T00:20:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/1 "2003-08-12T00:20:37Z")
I know there’s the generic term, “rectangular prism”, but is there a one-word term for it (like sphere, cube, etc.)? ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/2 "2003-08-12T00:22:02Z")
Box. ---
**Author:** ![luvtinayothers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@luvtinayothers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luvtinayothers)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/3 "2003-08-12T00:27:32Z")
hexehedron? ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/4 "2003-08-12T00:28:25Z")
[Cuboid](http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Cuboid.html) is a more technical-sounding term, but ‘box’ really is pretty common. For another fancy term, a box is a case of a parallelepiped (think of a parallelogram extended to three dimensions). ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/5 "2003-08-12T00:31:15Z")
Seems like a cube is a 3D square by definition. Looks like a 3D rectangle, in general, is a prism. [http://mathforum.org/workshops/sum98/participants/sanders/Geom3D.html](http://mathforum.org/workshops/sum98/participants/sanders/Geom3D.html) ---
**Author:** ![menudomucho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@menudomucho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/menudomucho)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/6 "2003-08-12T01:17:05Z")
In school, I remember calling the form a rectangular prism. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/7 "2003-08-12T01:34:41Z")
A right hexahedron. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/8 "2003-08-12T02:03:42Z")
Put me down for rectangular prism as well. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/9 "2003-08-12T02:16:49Z")
Damn. Cuboid. From [here](http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Prism.html) > [@](#): > > An oblique prism is a polyhedron with two congruent polygonal faces and all remaining faces parallelograms (left figure). A right prism is a prism in which the top and bottom polygons lie on top of each other so that the vertical polygons connecting their sides are not only parallelograms, but rectangles (right figure). If, in addition, the upper and lower bases are rectangles, then the prism is known as a cuboid. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/10 "2003-08-12T02:20:42Z")
The “official” term is rectangular parallelopiped, but box is what I call it. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/11 "2003-08-12T02:28:25Z")
But there’s no requirement for the “sides” of the box to be perpendicular to the top and bottom in a parallelopiped is there? ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/12 "2003-08-12T02:32:58Z")
Not in general, but if all the faces are rectangular, it has to happen like that. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/13 "2003-08-12T05:17:53Z")
rectangular parallelopiped - ahh … sweet memories of Calc III ---
**Author:** ![herman\_and\_bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f1d935/32.png) [@herman\_and\_bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herman_and_bill)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/14 "2003-08-12T10:09:05Z")
No body else would call it a pyramid? ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/15 "2003-08-12T10:33:09Z")
Well then what would you call a pyramid? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/16 "2003-08-12T10:41:23Z")
It’s definitely **cuboid**. Much more concise than parallelopiped, and more specific, too. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/17 "2003-08-12T10:48:32Z")
Box is twice as concise as cuboid. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/18 "2003-08-12T11:00:57Z")
Box is the first thing that comes to my mind. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/19 "2003-08-12T11:04:49Z")
Boxes have lids. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526/20 "2003-08-12T11:32:47Z")
“Box” is just silly. A box is a physical object, which may or may not be cuboid in shape (eg think of a hat box, which is cylindrical). “Box” is certainly not a mathematical term, unless in some kind of horribly dumbed-down school textbook that doesn’t want to scare the little darlings with proper words. Ahem, rant over. Anyway, the mathematical term for “a geometric solid whose six faces are rectangles” (definition from Collins English Dictionary) is “cuboid”. It is a special case of the parallelepiped - also called a rectangular parallelepiped (note spelling, which I got wrong too in my last post!) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-3d-rectangle/194526.md?page=2)