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A Bravais lattice is an infinite periodic set of equivalent points $\mathbf{R}=n_1{\mathbf{a}}_1+n_2{\mathbf{a}}_2+n_3{\mathbf{a}}_3$, with integer $n_i$ and independent primitive translations ${\mathbf{a}}_i$. It describes translation symmetry, without assigning a chemical species to a point. An atomic basis of a crystal is the motif of atoms, with their species and relative positions, repeated identically at every lattice point. The resulting crystal structure consists of the lattice decorated by that basis; the basis can contain several atoms even when the lattice is primitive.

A primitive unit cell tiles space under lattice translations and contains exactly one lattice point, counting shared boundary points fractionally. Its volume is $|{\mathbf{a}}_1\cdot ({\mathbf{a}}_2\times {\mathbf{a}}_3)|$. A conventional unit cell is chosen to display useful crystal symmetry and may contain several lattice points. Thus a centered conventional cell is not primitive, but the crystal still has a primitive cell. Neither cell size nor the number of dots drawn on its boundary should be confused with the number of atoms in the crystal basis.