PARQUETRY (Fr. pargqueterie, from parquet, flooring, originally a small compartment)  , a term applied to a kind of mosaic of wood used for ornamental flooring . Materials contrasting in colour and grain, such as oak, walnut, cherry, lime, pine, &c. are employed; and in the more expensive kinds the richly coloured tropical woods are also used . The patterns of parquet flooring are entirely geometrical and angular (squares, triangles, lozenges, &c.), curved and irregular forms being avoided on account of the expense and difficulty of fitting . There are two classes of parquetry in use—veneers and solid parquet . The veneers are usually about a quarter of an inch in thickness, and are laid over already existing floors . Solid parquet of an inch or more in thickness consists of single pieces of wood grooved and tongued together, having consequently the pattern alike on both sides .