vierkant

Vierkant is a Dutch noun and adjective meaning square or four-sided. The word is built from vier, four, and kant, edge or side. In geometry, een vierkant most commonly refers to a square, a regular quadrilateral with four gelijke zijden and four rechte hoeken. In everyday language it can describe anything with a roughly square shape.

Geometrically, a vierkant has four equal sides and four right angles. Its opposite sides are parallel, and its diagonals are equal and intersect at right angles. The area is calculated as the side length squared (A = s^2) and the perimeter as four times the side length (P = 4s). A square is a special case of a parallelogram, sharing these properties.

Related terms and usage: In mathematics, the term appears in expressions such as vierkantsgetal, referring to square numbers (1, 4, 9, 16, ...). The phrase vierkante meter denotes square meters, the unit of area (m2). Beyond strict geometry, vierkant is also used in general language to emphasize a shape or layout that is evenly proportioned or regular.