CSS is capable of making all sorts of shapes. Squares and rectangles are easy, as they are the natural shapes of the web. Add a width and height and you have the exact size rectangle you need. Add border-radius and you can round that shape, and enough of it you can turn those rectangles into circles and ovals.

We also get the ::before and ::after psuedo elements in CSS, which give us the potential of two more shapes we can add to the original element. By getting clever with positioning, transforming, and many other tricks, we can make lots of shapes in CSS with only a single HTML element.

Square

#square {
width: 100px;
height: 100px;
background: red;
}

Rectangle

#rectangle {
width: 200px;
height: 100px;
background: red;
}

Circle

#circle {
width: 100px;
height: 100px;
background: red;
border-radius: 50%
}

Oval

#oval {
width: 200px;
height: 100px;
background: red;
border-radius: 100px / 50px;
}

Triangle Up

#triangle-up {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-left: 50px solid transparent;
border-right: 50px solid transparent;
border-bottom: 100px solid red;
}

Triangle Down

#triangle-down {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-left: 50px solid transparent;
border-right: 50px solid transparent;
border-top: 100px solid red;
}

Triangle Left

#triangle-left {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-top: 50px solid transparent;
border-right: 100px solid red;
border-bottom: 50px solid transparent;
}

Triangle Right

#triangle-right {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-top: 50px solid transparent;
border-left: 100px solid red;
border-bottom: 50px solid transparent;
}

Triangle Top Left

#triangle-topleft {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-top: 100px solid red;
border-right: 100px solid transparent;
}

Triangle Top Right

#triangle-topright {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-top: 100px solid red;
border-left: 100px solid transparent;
}

Triangle Bottom Left

#triangle-bottomleft {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-bottom: 100px solid red;
border-right: 100px solid transparent;
}

Triangle Bottom Right

#triangle-bottomright {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-bottom: 100px solid red;
border-left: 100px solid transparent;
}

Curved Tail Arrow via Ando Razafimandimby

#curvedarrow {
position: relative;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-top: 9px solid transparent;
border-right: 9px solid red;
transform: rotate(10deg);
}
#curvedarrow:after {
content: “”;
position: absolute;
border: 0 solid transparent;
border-top: 3px solid red;
border-radius: 20px 0 0 0;
top: -12px;
left: -9px;
width: 12px;
height: 12px;
transform: rotate(45deg);
}

Trapezoid

#trapezoid {
border-bottom: 100px solid red;
border-left: 50px solid transparent;
border-right: 50px solid transparent;
height: 0;
width: 100px;
}

Parallelogram

#parallelogram {
width: 150px;
height: 100px;
transform: skew(20deg);
background: red;
}

Star (6-points)

#star-six {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-left: 50px solid transparent;
border-right: 50px solid transparent;
border-bottom: 100px solid red;
position: relative;
}
#star-six:after {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-left: 50px solid transparent;
border-right: 50px solid transparent;
border-top: 100px solid red;
position: absolute;
content: “”;
top: 30px;
left: -50px;
}

Star (5-points) via Kit MacAllister

#star-five {
margin: 50px 0;
position: relative;
display: block;
color: red;
width: 0px;
height: 0px;
border-right: 100px solid transparent;
border-bottom: 70px solid red;
border-left: 100px solid transparent;
transform: rotate(35deg);
}
#star-five:before {
border-bottom: 80px solid red;
border-left: 30px solid transparent;
border-right: 30px solid transparent;
position: absolute;
height: 0;
width: 0;
top: -45px;
left: -65px;
display: block;
content: ”;
transform: rotate(-35deg);
}
#star-five:after {
position: absolute;
display: block;
color: red;
top: 3px;
left: -105px;
width: 0px;
height: 0px;
border-right: 100px solid transparent;
border-bottom: 70px solid red;
border-left: 100px solid transparent;
transform: rotate(-70deg);
content: ”;
}

Pentagon

#pentagon {
position: relative;
width: 54px;
box-sizing: content-box;
border-width: 50px 18px 0;
border-style: solid;
border-color: red transparent;
}
#pentagon:before {
content: “”;
position: absolute;
height: 0;
width: 0;
top: -85px;
left: -18px;
border-width: 0 45px 35px;
border-style: solid;
border-color: transparent transparent red;
}

Hexagon

#hexagon {
width: 100px;
height: 55px;
background: red;
position: relative;
}
#hexagon:before {
content: “”;
position: absolute;
top: -25px;
left: 0;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-left: 50px solid transparent;
border-right: 50px solid transparent;
border-bottom: 25px solid red;
}
#hexagon:after {
content: “”;
position: absolute;
bottom: -25px;
left: 0;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-left: 50px solid transparent;
border-right: 50px solid transparent;
border-top: 25px solid red;
}

Octagon

#octagon {
width: 100px;
height: 100px;
background: red;
position: relative;
}
#octagon:before {
content: “”;
width: 100px;
height: 0;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
border-bottom: 29px solid red;
border-left: 29px solid #eee;
border-right: 29px solid #eee;
}
#octagon:after {
content: “”;
width: 100px;
height: 0;
position: absolute;
bottom: 0;
left: 0;
border-top: 29px solid red;
border-left: 29px solid #eee;
border-right: 29px solid #eee;
}

Heart via Nicolas Gallagher

#heart {
position: relative;
width: 100px;
height: 90px;
}
#heart:before,
#heart:after {
position: absolute;
content: “”;
left: 50px;
top: 0;
width: 50px;
height: 80px;
background: red;
border-radius: 50px 50px 0 0;
transform: rotate(-45deg);
transform-origin: 0 100%;
}
#heart:after {
left: 0;
transform: rotate(45deg);
transform-origin: 100% 100%;
}

Infinity via Nicolas Gallagher

#infinity {
position: relative;
width: 212px;
height: 100px;
box-sizing: content-box;
}
#infinity:before,
#infinity:after {
content: “”;
box-sizing: content-box;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
width: 60px;
height: 60px;
border: 20px solid red;
border-radius: 50px 50px 0 50px;
transform: rotate(-45deg);
}
#infinity:after {
left: auto;
right: 0;
border-radius: 50px 50px 50px 0;
transform: rotate(45deg);
}

Diamond Square via Joseph Silber

#diamond {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border: 50px solid transparent;
border-bottom-color: red;
position: relative;
top: -50px;
}
#diamond:after {
content: ”;
position: absolute;
left: -50px;
top: 50px;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border: 50px solid transparent;
border-top-color: red;
}

Diamond Shield via Joseph Silber

#diamond-shield {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border: 50px solid transparent;
border-bottom: 20px solid red;
position: relative;
top: -50px;
}
#diamond-shield:after {
content: ”;
position: absolute;
left: -50px;
top: 20px;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border: 50px solid transparent;
border-top: 70px solid red;
}

Diamond Narrow via Joseph Silber

#diamond-narrow {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border: 50px solid transparent;
border-bottom: 70px solid red;
position: relative;
top: -50px;
}
#diamond-narrow:after {
content: ”;
position: absolute;
left: -50px;
top: 70px;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border: 50px solid transparent;
border-top: 70px solid red;
}

Cut Diamond via Alexander Futekov

#cut-diamond {
border-style: solid;
border-color: transparent transparent red transparent;
border-width: 0 25px 25px 25px;
height: 0;
width: 50px;
box-sizing: content-box;
position: relative;
margin: 20px 0 50px 0;
}
#cut-diamond:after {
content: “”;
position: absolute;
top: 25px;
left: -25px;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-style: solid;
border-color: red transparent transparent transparent;
border-width: 70px 50px 0 50px;
}

Egg

#egg {
display: block;
width: 126px;
height: 180px;
background-color: red;
border-radius: 50% 50% 50% 50% / 60% 60% 40% 40%;
}

Pac-Man

#pacman {
width: 0px;
height: 0px;
border-right: 60px solid transparent;
border-top: 60px solid red;
border-left: 60px solid red;
border-bottom: 60px solid red;
border-top-left-radius: 60px;
border-top-right-radius: 60px;
border-bottom-left-radius: 60px;
border-bottom-right-radius: 60px;
}

Talk Bubble

#talkbubble {
width: 120px;
height: 80px;
background: red;
position: relative;
-moz-border-radius: 10px;
-webkit-border-radius: 10px;
border-radius: 10px;
}
#talkbubble:before {
content: “”;
position: absolute;
right: 100%;
top: 26px;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-top: 13px solid transparent;
border-right: 26px solid red;
border-bottom: 13px solid transparent;
}

12 Point Burst via Alan Johnson

#burst-12 {
background: red;
width: 80px;
height: 80px;
position: relative;
text-align: center;
}
#burst-12:before,
#burst-12:after {
content: “”;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
height: 80px;
width: 80px;
background: red;
}
#burst-12:before {
transform: rotate(30deg);
}
#burst-12:after {
transform: rotate(60deg);
}

8 Point Burst via Alan Johnson

#burst-8 {
background: red;
width: 80px;
height: 80px;
position: relative;
text-align: center;
transform: rotate(20deg);
}
#burst-8:before {
content: “”;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
height: 80px;
width: 80px;
background: red;
transform: rotate(135deg);
}

Yin Yang via Alexander Futekov

#yin-yang {
width: 96px;
box-sizing: content-box;
height: 48px;
background: #eee;
border-color: red;
border-style: solid;
border-width: 2px 2px 50px 2px;
border-radius: 100%;
position: relative;
}
#yin-yang:before {
content: “”;
position: absolute;
top: 50%;
left: 0;
background: #eee;
border: 18px solid red;
border-radius: 100%;
width: 12px;
height: 12px;
box-sizing: content-box;
}
#yin-yang:after {
content: “”;
position: absolute;
top: 50%;
left: 50%;
background: red;
border: 18px solid #eee;
border-radius: 100%;
width: 12px;
height: 12px;
box-sizing: content-box;
}

Badge Ribbon via Catalin Rosu

#badge-ribbon {
position: relative;
background: red;
height: 100px;
width: 100px;
border-radius: 50px;
}
#badge-ribbon:before,
#badge-ribbon:after {
content: ”;
position: absolute;
border-bottom: 70px solid red;
border-left: 40px solid transparent;
border-right: 40px solid transparent;
top: 70px;
left: -10px;
transform: rotate(-140deg);
}
#badge-ribbon:after {
left: auto;
right: -10px;
transform: rotate(140deg);
}

Space Invader via Vlad Zinculescu

#space-invader {
box-shadow: 0 0 0 1em red,
0 1em 0 1em red,
-2.5em 1.5em 0 .5em red,
2.5em 1.5em 0 .5em red,
-3em -3em 0 0 red,
3em -3em 0 0 red,
-2em -2em 0 0 red,
2em -2em 0 0 red,
-3em -1em 0 0 red,
-2em -1em 0 0 red,
2em -1em 0 0 red,
3em -1em 0 0 red,
-4em 0 0 0 red,
-3em 0 0 0 red,
3em 0 0 0 red,
4em 0 0 0 red,
-5em 1em 0 0 red,
-4em 1em 0 0 red,
4em 1em 0 0 red,
5em 1em 0 0 red,
-5em 2em 0 0 red,
5em 2em 0 0 red,
-5em 3em 0 0 red,
-3em 3em 0 0 red,
3em 3em 0 0 red,
5em 3em 0 0 red,
-2em 4em 0 0 red,
-1em 4em 0 0 red,
1em 4em 0 0 red,
2em 4em 0 0 red;
background: red;
width: 1em;
height: 1em;
overflow: hidden;
margin: 50px 0 70px 65px;
}

TV Screen

#tv {
position: relative;
width: 200px;
height: 150px;
margin: 20px 0;
background: red;
border-radius: 50% / 10%;
color: white;
text-align: center;
text-indent: .1em;
}
#tv:before {
content: ”;
position: absolute;
top: 10%;
bottom: 10%;
right: -5%;
left: -5%;
background: inherit;
border-radius: 5% / 50%;
}

Chevron via Anthony Ticknor

#chevron {
position: relative;
text-align: center;
padding: 12px;
margin-bottom: 6px;
height: 60px;
width: 200px;
}
#chevron:before {
content: ”;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
height: 100%;
width: 51%;
background: red;
transform: skew(0deg, 6deg);
}
#chevron:after {
content: ”;
position: absolute;
top: 0;
right: 0;
height: 100%;
width: 50%;
background: red;
transform: skew(0deg, -6deg);
}

Magnifying Glass

#magnifying-glass {
font-size: 10em;
display: inline-block;
width: 0.4em;
box-sizing: content-box;
height: 0.4em;
border: 0.1em solid red;
position: relative;
border-radius: 0.35em;
}
#magnifying-glass:before {
content: “”;
display: inline-block;
position: absolute;
right: -0.25em;
bottom: -0.1em;
border-width: 0;
background: red;
width: 0.35em;
height: 0.08em;
transform: rotate(45deg);
}

Facebook Icon via Nathan Swartz

#facebook-icon {
background: red;
text-indent: -999em;
width: 100px;
height: 110px;
box-sizing: content-box;
border-radius: 5px;
position: relative;
overflow: hidden;
border: 15px solid red;
border-bottom: 0;
}
#facebook-icon:before {
content: “/20”;
position: absolute;
background: red;
width: 40px;
height: 90px;
bottom: -30px;
right: -37px;
border: 20px solid #eee;
border-radius: 25px;
box-sizing: content-box;
}
#facebook-icon:after {
content: “/20”;
position: absolute;
width: 55px;
top: 50px;
height: 20px;
background: #eee;
right: 5px;
box-sizing: content-box;
}

Moon via Omid Rasouli

#moon {
width: 80px;
height: 80px;
border-radius: 50%;
box-shadow: 15px 15px 0 0 red;
}

Flag via Zoe Rooney

#flag {
width: 110px;
height: 56px;
box-sizing: content-box;
padding-top: 15px;
position: relative;
background: red;
color: white;
font-size: 11px;
letter-spacing: 0.2em;
text-align: center;
text-transform: uppercase;
}
#flag:after {
content: “”;
position: absolute;
left: 0;
bottom: 0;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-bottom: 13px solid #eee;
border-left: 55px solid transparent;
border-right: 55px solid transparent;
}

Cone via Omid Rasouli

#cone {
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-left: 70px solid transparent;
border-right: 70px solid transparent;
border-top: 100px solid red;
border-radius: 50%;
}

Cross via Kaya Basharan

#cross {
background: red;
height: 100px;
position: relative;
width: 20px;
}
#cross:after {
background: red;
content: “”;
height: 20px;
left: -40px;
position: absolute;
top: 40px;
width: 100px;
}

Base via Josh Rodgers

#base {
background: red;
display: inline-block;
height: 55px;
margin-left: 20px;
margin-top: 55px;
position: relative;
width: 100px;
}
#base:before {
border-bottom: 35px solid red;
border-left: 50px solid transparent;
border-right: 50px solid transparent;
content: “”;
height: 0;
left: 0;
position: absolute;
top: -35px;
width: 0;
}

Pointer via Amsakanna Freethinker

#pointer {
width: 200px;
height: 40px;
position: relative;
background: red;
}
#pointer:after {
content: “”;
position: absolute;
left: 0;
bottom: 0;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-left: 20px solid white;
border-top: 20px solid transparent;
border-bottom: 20px solid transparent;
}
#pointer:before {
content: “”;
position: absolute;
right: -20px;
bottom: 0;
width: 0;
height: 0;
border-left: 20px solid red;
border-top: 20px solid transparent;
border-bottom: 20px solid transparent;
}

Lock via Colin Bate

#lock {
font-size: 8px;
position: relative;
width: 18em;
height: 13em;
border-radius: 2em;
top: 10em;
box-sizing: border-box;
border: 3.5em solid red;
border-right-width: 7.5em;
border-left-width: 7.5em;
margin: 0 0 6rem 0;
}
#lock:before {
content: “”;
box-sizing: border-box;
position: absolute;
border: 2.5em solid red;
width: 14em;
height: 12em;
left: 50%;
margin-left: -7em;
top: -12em;
border-top-left-radius: 7em;
border-top-right-radius: 7em;
}
#lock:after {
content: “”;
box-sizing: border-box;
position: absolute;
border: 1em solid ted;
width: 5em;
height: 8em;
border-radius: 2.5em;
left: 50%;
top: -1em;
margin-left: -2.5em;
}

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