Rectangular

How to spell rectangular

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce rectangular

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does rectangular mean?

1. adjectiveShaped like a rectangle, having four straight sides and four right angles.

Rectangular in a sentence

• The dining table had a long rectangular top that seated ten people.

• Architects favoured a rectangular floor plan for the new office block.

Where does rectangular come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin rectangulum, meaning 'right angle', which was assembled from rectus, meaning 'right' or 'straight', and angulus, meaning 'corner' or 'angle'. The same rectus root, literally 'set straight' or 'upright', gives English a whole family of relatives including 'rectify' (to make right), 'erect' (to set upright), and even 'rectitude' (moral straightness). The adjective 'rectangular' was formed by adding the suffix -ar, meaning 'relating to', and it entered English in the seventeenth century alongside the geometric noun 'rectangle'. Because the central syllable is the easily recognised word 'angular', the spelling is fairly stable, though the unstressed -ar ending sometimes tempts writers toward the wrong vowel. Keeping the Latin pieces in mind, a right angle joined to a corner, helps fix both the meaning and the letters.

How the word is built

• rect- (from rectus: right, straight)
• angul (from angulus: angle, corner)
• -ar (adjective suffix: relating to)