Etymograph

English

plan

Plan comes from French plan ‘flat surface, ground plot, map’, and goes back to Latin plānus.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplānus1
  2. Frenchc. 1600–presentplan1‘flat surface’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1815plan1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English plan
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1815, William Wordsworth: “The simple plan, / That they should take who…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplānusWiktionary, English plan
  2. Frenchc. 1600–presentplanWiktionary, English plan‘flat surface’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1815planWiktionary, English plan. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1815, William Wordsworth: “The simple plan, / That they should take who…”

The story

Some sources also argue for influence or alteration of French plant, from plantar, from Latin plantāre (‘set, fix in place’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Latin plānus

explain, explanation, plain, explanatory, esplanade, llano, 15 more

Today it means

noun A drawing showing technical details of a building, machine, etc., with unwanted details omitted, and often using symbols rather than detailed drawing to represent doors, valves, etc.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “plan”. 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 / Latin plānus / plan

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