Etymograph

English

ply

Ply comes from Middle English pleit, and goes back to Anglo-Norman pli.

  1. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400pli1
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pleit1
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1749ply1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English ply
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1749, John Cleland, (Please specify the letter or volume): “You may be ſure, in the ply I was…”.

Lineage

  1. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400pliWiktionary, English ply
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pleitWiktionary, English ply
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1749plyWiktionary, English ply. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1749, John Cleland, (Please specify the letter or volume): “You may be ſure, in the ply I was…”

Linked words

through Middle English pleit

plait

Another origin of ply

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-‘to plait, to weave’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicoas plicāre‘to fold’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400ploiier‘to fold’
  4. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400plier
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500plīen
  6. Englishtodayply

The word is cognate with Catalan plegar (‘to bend, fold’), Italian piegare (‘to bend, fold, fold up’), Old Occitan plegar, plejar, pleyar (‘to fold’) (modern Occitan plegar), Spanish plegar (‘to fold’).

Today it means

noun A layer of material.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “ply”. 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 / Anglo-Norman pli / ply

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