Graph terminology

Question

If $B$ is the subgraph of $A$, can we say $A$ is the "parent" graph or the "original" graph?

Context: "In a subgraph, the vertices and edges are a subset of the parent graph."

Not sure if it's right since we're not dealing with trees.

I am not sure that I have ever seen such terminology used, but that doesn't mean that you can't use it. The parent / child analogy makes sense (though it might cause confusion in the case of a tree, where parent / child nodes are often said to exist). You could also say "supergraph" (the sub / super pairing is common in mathematics), and I think that the language "containing graph" would probably be clear. — Xander Henderson, Jul 09 '19 at 23:31
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_graph_theory_terms ? — , Jul 09 '19 at 23:36

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 09 '19 at 23:42

2

The term you want is supergraph:

supergraph: If $G'$ is a subgraph of $G$, then $G$ is said to be a supergraph of $G'$.

answered Jul 09 '19 at 23:42

Xander Henderson

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 09 '19 at 23:32

The difficulty here is that there are an infinite number of graphs for which $B$ is a subgraph. There is no unique parent graph $A$.

I think it is best to simply say "graph."

If you've described that $B$ is a subgraph of $A$ and that is the graph you wish to mention, just say "$A$."

2 Answers2