Etymograph

English

plat

Plat comes from Middle English plat ‘plat: flat’.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500plat1‘plat: flat’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1580plat1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English plat
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1580, Richard Hakluyt, Anno 1580: To M. Arthur Pet: “For which cauſe I wiſh you to enter into…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500platWiktionary, English plat‘plat: flat’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1580platWiktionary, English plat. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1580, Richard Hakluyt, Anno 1580: To M. Arthur Pet: “For which cauſe I wiſh you to enter into…”

The story

The noun is derived from Middle English plat, platte (‘flat part of a sword; flat piece of ground, plot of ground’), probably a variant of Middle English plot, (modern English plot) and influenced by Middle English plat, plate (modern English plate) and Anglo-Norman, Middle French and Old French plat.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Middle English plat

Another origin of plat

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500platte
  2. Englishtodayplat

The noun is a variant of plait. The verb is from Middle English platte, English plat, respectively archaic past and past participle forms of English pleat (a variant of plait), Middle English platten (‘to braid, weave; plait; to fold’).

Another origin of plat

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleth₂-‘flat’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pléth₂usuncertain
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*plətúsuncertain
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπλατύςplatús‘flat’uncertain
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*plattus‘flat’reconstructed
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400plat‘(adjective) flat, level’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500plat‘plat: flat’
  8. Englishtodayplat

The English word is cognate with French plat, Italian piatto, Middle Dutch plat (modern Dutch plat (‘flat’)), Middle High German blat, plat, Middle Low German plat (modern German platt (‘flat’)), Old Danish plat (modern Danish plat), Old Occitan plat (modern Occitan plat), Old Swedish plat (modern Swedish platt); and is a doublet of flat and pleyt.

Today it means

noun A plot of land; a lot.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “plat”. 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 / Middle English plat / plat

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