Etymograph

English

plot

Plot comes from Old English plot ‘a plot of ground’.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150plot1‘a plot of ground’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500plot1
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1602plot1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English plot
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1602, Richard Carew: “This treatise plotteth down Cornwall as it now standeth.”.

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150plotWiktionary, English plot‘a plot of ground’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500plotWiktionary, English plot
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1602plotWiktionary, English plot. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1602, Richard Carew: “This treatise plotteth down Cornwall as it now standeth.”

The story

Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *plataz, *platjaz (‘a patch’); or alternatively, perhaps from a rebracketing of Old English land-splott (‘small portion, or plot, of ground’) taken as landes-plot (‘plot of land’).disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it. Noun sense 12 is a back-formation from for the plot.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Explore everything descended from plot →

No ads, ever. This is how the app stays alive.

Become a founding member, $29 onceWear this word, $32Support the app

Today it means

noun The course of a story, comprising a series of incidents which are gradually unfolded, sometimes by unexpected means.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “plot”. 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 / Old English plot / plot