English
plateau
Plateau comes from French plat ‘a plate’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- ‘to spread, extend’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleth₂-1‘to spread, extend’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
- Frenchc. 1600–presentplat1‘a plate’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentplateau1diminutive of plat
- Englishearliest quotation 2008plateau1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English plateau
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2008, Tara Parker-Pope, Hint of Hope as Child Obesity Rate Hits Plateau: “Childhood obesity, rising for more than two decades, appears…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleth₂-Wiktionary, English plateau‘to spread, extend’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
- Frenchc. 1600–presentplatWiktionary, English plateau‘a plate’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentplateauWiktionary, English plateaudiminutive of plat
- Englishearliest quotation 2008plateauWiktionary, English plateau. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2008, Tara Parker-Pope, Hint of Hope as Child Obesity Rate Hits Plateau: “Childhood obesity, rising for more than two decades, appears…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- ‘to spread, extend’
plane, flat, platinum, plaza, collateral, piazza, lateral, plantain, flan, plaice, 14 more
through French plat ‘a plate’
Today it means
noun A largely level expanse of land at a high elevation; tableland.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “plateau”. 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 *pleth₂- / plateau