Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 27, 2026

Parallelogon

In geometry, a parallelogon is a polygon with parallel opposite sides that can tile a plane by translation.

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Jun 27, 2026
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A parallelogon is constructed by two or three pairs of parallel line segments. The vertices and edges on the interior of the hexagon are suppressed. source ↗
There are five Bravais lattices in two dimensions, related to the parallelogon tessellations by their five symmetry variations. source ↗

In geometry, a parallelogon is a polygon with parallel opposite sides (hence the name) that can tile a plane by translation (rotation is not permitted).12

Parallelogons have four or six sides, opposite sides that are equal in length, and 180-degree rotational symmetry around the center.1 A four-sided parallelogon is a parallelogram.

The three-dimensional analogue of a parallelogon is a parallelohedron. All faces of a parallelohedron are parallelogons.2

Two polygonal types

Quadrilateral and hexagonal parallelogons each have varied geometric symmetric forms. They all have central inversion symmetry, order 2. Every convex parallelogon is a zonogon, but hexagonal parallelogons enable the possibility of nonconvex polygons.

Sides Examples Name Symmetry
4 Parallelogram Z2, order 2
Rectangle & rhombus Dih2, order 4
Square Dih4, order 8
6 Elongated
parallelogram
Z2, order 2
Elongated
rhombus
Dih2, order 4
Regular
hexagon
Dih6, order 12

Geometric variations

A parallelogram can tile the plane as a distorted square tiling while a hexagonal parallelogon can tile the plane as a distorted regular hexagonal tiling.

Parallelogram tilings
1 length 2 lengths
Right Skew Right Skew

Square
p4m (*442)

Rhombus
cmm (2*22)

Rectangle
pmm (*2222)

Parallelogram
p2 (2222)
Hexagonal parallelogon tilings
1 length 2 lengths 3 lengths
Regular hexagon
p6m (*632)
Elongated rhombus
cmm (2*22)
Elongated parallelogram
p2 (2222)
References

References

  1. Aleksandr Danilovich Alexandrov (2005) [1950]. Convex Polyhedra. Translated by N.S. Dairbekov; S.S. Kutateladze; A.B. Sosinsky. Springer. p. 351. ISBN 3-540-23158-7. ISSN 1439-7382.
  2. Grünbaum, Branko (2010-12-01). "The Bilinski Dodecahedron and Assorted Parallelohedra, Zonohedra, Monohedra, Isozonohedra, and Otherhedra". The Mathematical Intelligencer. 32 (4): 5–15. doi:10.1007/s00283-010-9138-7. hdl:1773/15593. ISSN 1866-7414. S2CID 120403108. PDF
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