files/en-us/web/api/node/parentelement/index.md
{{APIRef("DOM")}}
The read-only parentElement property of {{domxref("Node")}} interface
returns the DOM node's parent {{DOMxRef("Element")}}, or null if the node either has no
parent, or its parent isn't a DOM {{DOMxRef("Element")}}. {{domxref("Node.parentNode")}} on the other hand returns any kind of parent, regardless of its type.
An {{domxref("Element")}} that is the parent element of the current node,
or null if there isn't one.
This example sets the parent of node to have a red text color.
if (node.parentElement) {
node.parentElement.style.color = "red";
}
parentElement can be null if the node has no parent (for example, because it isn't attached to a tree) or its parent is not an Element. On the other hand, {{domxref("Node.parentNode")}} always returns the parent node, which may be a {{domxref("Document")}} or other node types.
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en-US">
<body>
<script>
const html = document.querySelector("html");
console.log(html.parentElement); // null
console.log(html.parentNode); // document
</script>
</body>
</html>
{{Specifications}}
{{Compat}}