Etymograph

English

explanans

Explanans comes from Latin explānāns ‘explaining, making plain’, from plānus ‘level, flat, even’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₂-1‘flat’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pl̥h₂nós1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*plānos1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplānus1‘level, flat, even’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexplānō2‘make plain’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexplānāns3‘explaining, making plain’
  7. Englishtodayexplanans3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin explano
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin explanans
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English explanans

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₂-Wiktionary, Latin explano‘flat’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pl̥h₂nósWiktionary, Latin explanoreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*plānosWiktionary, Latin explanoreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplānusWiktionary, Latin explano‘level, flat, even’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexplānōWiktionary, Latin explanans‘make plain’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexplānānsWiktionary, English explanans‘explaining, making plain’
  7. EnglishtodayexplanansWiktionary, English explanans

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- ‘flat’

field, floor, palm, planet, clan, archipelago, fluke, parma, flounder, placenta, playa, palatine, lech, polonium, pelagic, placate, implacable, veld, flay, floe, plantar, purdah, planta, 48 more

through Proto-Italic *plānos

plane, planar, 13 more

through Latin plānus ‘level, flat, even’

plan, plain, llano, 15 more

through Latin explānō ‘make plain’

esplanade, unexplainable, explainable, 5 more

Today it means

noun A collection of propositions that, taken together, explain another proposition (the explanandum).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “explanans”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin explano, Latin explanans. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- / explanans

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