vertikal

Vertikal is a term used in several languages to describe orientation along the vertical axis, i.e., up and down, perpendicular to the horizon. The root is Latin verticalis, meaning "perpendicular to the horizon," and the word has spread into many languages where it is used as an adjective and, in some contexts, as a noun. In Indonesian and Malay, vertikal is commonly used to describe vertical orientation and is used alongside horizontal.

In geometry and physics, vertical refers to directions or lines parallel to the y-axis in a standard Cartesian system; a vertical line has an undefined slope and x = constant. The opposite direction is horizontal, aligned with the x-axis. In mapping and computer graphics, vertical alignment affects calculations and rendering, such as vertical scaling or vertical exaggeration in geographic profiles.

Applications include architecture and engineering (vertical elements like walls and columns), photography and design (vertical format for portrait images), and data visualization (vertical bars in bar charts or vertical axes on graphs). The term also appears in agriculture as vertical farming, a method that grows crops in vertically stacked layers.

Variant spellings and cognates exist in many languages, and the concept is widely understood in science, design, and everyday language as a basic orientation opposite to horizontal.