Meaning

noun something having the property of being analogous to something else

noun an imaginary line around the Earth parallel to the equator

noun (mathematics) one of a set of parallel geometric figures (parallel lines or planes)

originFrom Middle French parallèle and its etymon Latin parallēlus, parallēlos. The verb is from the noun. By surface analysis, par- + all- + -el.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0