# What do you call a three dimensional rectangle? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 22, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700 "2006-02-22T23:27:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/1 "2006-02-22T23:27:03Z")
The title pretty much sums it up. By “three dimensional rectangle”, I mean the shape formed by taking a rectangle and extending it along the z-axis. Three dimensional circle = sphere Three dimensional square = cube Three dimensional rectangle = ??? A Google search brings up “rectangular box” and “rectangular parallelepiped”, but these both seem to lack a particular je ne sais qua. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/2 "2006-02-22T23:29:06Z")
Cuboid? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/3 "2006-02-22T23:32:16Z")
The general term for such a shape is _rectangular prism_. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/4 "2006-02-22T23:34:58Z")
> [@Suburban Plankton](#): > > The title pretty much sums it up. By “three dimensional rectangle”, I mean the shape formed by taking a rectangle and extending it along the z-axis. > > Three dimensional circle = sphere > Three dimensional square = cube > Three dimensional rectangle = ??? > > A Google search brings up “rectangular box” and “rectangular parallelepiped”, but these both seem to lack a particular je ne sais qua. It’s a [prism](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=prism). Specifically a rectangular prism. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/5 "2006-02-22T23:41:18Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Cuboid? That’s what they taught me at school; I think _rectangular prism_ may be more popular the other side of the pond, or just more popular nowadays, or maybe my maths teachers were just wrong. ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/6 "2006-02-22T23:42:07Z")
> [@Suburban Plankton](#): > > A Google search brings up “rectangular box” and “rectangular parallelepiped”, but these both seem to lack a particular je ne sais qua. If all else fails, you could borrow our “Quader”. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/7 "2006-02-22T23:46:59Z")
a rectangular parallelepiped is what I’ve always called it. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/8 "2006-02-22T23:47:32Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > That’s what they taught me at school; I think _rectangular prism_ may be more popular the other side of the pond, or just more popular nowadays, or maybe my maths teachers were just wrong. Looks like we’re right and the Yanks are wrong 😉 [http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Cuboid.html](http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Cuboid.html) On a serious note, I was under the impression that ‘prism’ more properly referred to optical matter rather than geometric shapes? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2006, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/9 "2006-02-22T23:48:52Z")
(Oh, ‘cuboid’ is also an adjective…which surely beats ‘rectangular parallelepipedular’ in the usability stakes 😛 ) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/10 "2006-02-23T00:07:55Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > On a serious note, I was under the impression that ‘prism’ more properly referred to optical matter rather than geometric shapes? Unmodified, ‘prism’ means an optical one in everyday language, but the word does describe the shape, rather than the optical properties. In terms of geometry, it refers to an extruded shape, so it needs a modifier; rectangular prism, hexagonal prism, etc, and of course triangular prism, the scientific term for which is _The Toblerone_. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/11 "2006-02-23T00:15:07Z")
Here’s some rectangular-prism type objects: A brick. A stick (of butter). A slab (of concrete.) A (mah-jong) tile. A (stone) tablet. A box. A bar (of gold.) Seems like there is no particular common term that applies generally to that shape. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/12 "2006-02-23T01:01:37Z")
> [@Ghanima](#): > > Seems like there is no particular common term that applies generally to that shape. If only someone would invent such a term, like… I dunno… _cuboid_ might be good. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/13 "2006-02-23T01:10:17Z")
> [@Suburban Plankton](#): > > A Google search brings up “rectangular box” and “rectangular parallelepiped”, but these both seem to lack a particular je ne sais qua. Perhaps, but the latter is what I would call it. If you want to sound all mathy, you could call it D[0, 1][sup]3[/sup] (where D is an arbitrary diagonal matrix). ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/14 "2006-02-23T01:12:04Z")
I’d call it a cuboid too. Is this the end of the Anglo-American good relations? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/15 "2006-02-23T01:14:04Z")
> [@Revenant Threshold](#): > > Is this the end of the Anglo-American good relations? If not the end, then the end of the beginning of the end; the beginning of the end of the beginning of the end began (or perhaps _ended_) when I suggested that pizza could be eaten with knife and foek, a couple of weeks ago. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/16 "2006-02-23T01:15:05Z")
And yes, it is called a _foek_ in the Kingdom of butter. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/17 "2006-02-23T01:27:16Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > which surely beats ‘rectangular parallelepipedular’ in the usability stakes Yes, but think how _smart_ you’ll sound at parties! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/18 "2006-02-23T04:04:24Z")
I have to go against the cuboid tide. The word cuboid suggests it’s got equal sides and edges or at least cubelike qualities, which is not the definition of a rectangular prism. If we need a common term, rectangloid seems more accurate (although I’d be happy to assilimate quader into English). We also could distinguish between a regular rectangloid (where four the sides are congruent and the remaining two opposite sides are square - like a stick of butter) and an irregular rectangloid (where all three pairs of opposite sides are non-conguent - like a brick). ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/19 "2006-02-23T04:22:54Z")
It appears we have two proper candidates: **Rectangular Prism** : I don’t like it. It requires an adjective, and is merely a description of a subset of a larger group of shapes. Its really no better than “rectangular parallelepiped”, merely 9 letters shorter. **Cuboid** : This is better; it is a single word which describes the specific shape in question. There is only one problem: it suggests a “cube”, which is absolutely not the case. I’ve decided that I like “quader”. I’m not sure of the German pronunciation, but I will be pronouncing it with a long “a”. Thank you, **kellner**. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700/20 "2006-02-23T04:30:04Z")
> [@Suburban Plankton](#): > > It appears we have two proper candidates: > > **Rectangular Prism** : I don’t like it. It requires an adjective, and is merely a description of a subset of a larger group of shapes. Its really no better than “rectangular parallelepiped”, merely 9 letters shorter. > > **Cuboid** : This is better; it is a single word which describes the specific shape in question. There is only one problem: it suggests a “cube”, which is absolutely not the case. > > I’ve decided that I like “quader”. I’m not sure of the German pronunciation, but I will be pronouncing it with a long “a”. Thank you, **kellner**. So then, will there be a regular quader (stick o’ butter) and the irregular quader (brick) adopted? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-a-three-dimensional-rectangle/345700.md?page=2)