Jigsaw puzzle

A picture or design divided into interlocking pieces that must be fitted together to reconstruct the whole. Solving it involves matching shapes and image details without a fixed assembly order.

Interlocking puzzle piece: A shaped segment of a jigsaw puzzle, usually designed to connect with neighboring pieces. Tabs and blanks constrain which pieces can fit together.
John Spilsbury: An English engraver and mapmaker credited with producing an early commercial jigsaw puzzle around 1766. His dissected maps helped establish the puzzle as a geography teaching tool.
Educational toy: A play object designed to support learning or the development of skills. Map puzzles were used to teach geography, and jigsaws still support learning through play.
Tangram: A Chinese dissection puzzle using seven flat geometric pieces to form specified shapes. Unlike a jigsaw, a tangram uses reusable geometric pieces rather than fragments of one image.
Edge matching: The process of comparing object boundaries or contours to determine whether they align. Matching piece boundaries is a basic way to identify neighboring pieces.
Dissected map: A map cut into separate pieces for reassembly, often used as a geography exercise. Early jigsaw puzzles commonly used maps rather than decorative illustrations.
Occupational therapy: A health profession that uses activities to support participation in daily life and develop functional skills. Puzzle assembly can be adapted to practice coordination, attention, and task completion.
Sliding puzzle: A puzzle with movable tiles confined to a grid, typically solved by sliding them into an ordered arrangement. Its pieces move through a fixed frame instead of being lifted and joined.
Image segmentation: The division of an image into regions that correspond to objects or visually distinct areas. Color and object boundaries help sort pieces from the printed picture.
Marquetry: A decorative technique that assembles pieces of veneer into patterns or images on a surface. The puzzle's early name, 'dissected map,' echoed woodworkers' practice of cutting designs.

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