Etymology: Cognate with Middle Dutch plat blow, smack, Middle Low German plat blow, beating, Middle High German blaz , plaz ( German (now regional: Saxony and Thuringia) Platz slap, smack; also as interjection), Swedishregional platt light blow, probably ultimately of imitative origin. Compare plat v.¹

Etymology: Apparently < Anglo-Norman and Middle French, French plat (see plate n.), but in sense considerably influenced by association with plate n., so that in early use the two forms (with respectively short and long stem vowel) would appear to have functioned effectively as variants of the same word. plat n.² may in fact have arisen partly as a variant of plate n., by association with plat adj. Compare also plat n.³, plat n.⁵Forms taken to indicate a short vowel are given here; those reflecting a long vowel or diphthong are treated at plate n. Early plural forms of the type plates , platis , etc., which are ambiguous with regard to vowel length, are covered at the latter entry. Occasional forms of this word with -o- in senses relating to landscape features are probably by analogy with plot n. beside plat n.³ Apparently attested earlier in sense 8 in place and field names, as e.g. Plat forde (field name), Cheshire (compare earlier Platteneford (field name), Cheshire), and perhaps also Platte (1212–42), now Platt Bridge, Lancashire, de Plat (1287), now Platt Bridge (field name), Cheshire, although it is unclear whether these simplex examples show the Anglo-Norman or the Middle English word.

Etymology: Probably originally a variant of plot n., reinforced by association with plat adj. and probably also plat n.² Compare plat n.⁵The chronology appears to show that plat in sense 1 originated as a variant of plot n. 1, probably assimilated to plat n.² through association of sense, a plot of ground being usually a plat or flat area. On the unrounding of short -o- in Middle English and early modern English, see E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500–1700 (ed. 2, 1968) II.§87. Semantic association with plat n.² may also have played a part in the development of sense 2, a plat being a plan of an area of land or a building on a flat piece of paper or parchment. plot n. is first attested later in the senses corresponding to senses 2, 3, 4a, and 6. The development of branch II. bears many similarities to that of Middle French, French plan plan n. Apparently attested earlier in English place and field names, as de la Platte , Worcestershire (1241), Adamesplat (field name), Lancashire (a1300), Scortplat (field name), Nottinghamshire (1272–1307), Stoniplattes (field name), Derbyshire (1316), although it is sometimes difficult to distinguish place names containing this word from those containing plat n.²

Etymology: Ultimately < Middle French plete, plecte (1427; French plate (1690)), plat (c1590) flat-bottomed boat, spec. uses of plat , plate (see plate n.), probably partly via Middle Dutch pleite, plaite, pleit or Middle Low German pleyte, pleyt seagoing cargo boat (compare also plīte flat-bottomed boat). Compare post-classical Latin placta, plata, platta (13th cent. in Italian sources), Catalan plata raft (13th cent.), Spanish chata flat boat (1562; probably < Portuguese), Portuguese chata flat-bottomed boat, Italian piatta barge (a1348).It is unclear whether the following quot. shows the English word or its counterpart in French or post-classical Latin:1443 in T. Rymer Fœdera (1710) XI. 44 Sciatis quod..Concessimus..Johanni Fastolf..pro Expeditione Operationum suarum..Duas Naves vocatas Playtes..habere & occupare.

Etymology: Origin uncertain; probably a sense development of plat n.³, although perhaps also influenced semantically by association with plat n.² N.E.D. (1907) regards this as a sense development of plat n.², but this seems less likely.

Etymology: Variant of plait n. (see discussion at that entry). Compare earlier pleat n., plet n.¹, and also earlier plat v.³

Etymology: < French plat each of the dishes served in a meal (1530 in Middle French in this sense: see plate n.). N.E.D. (1907) gives the non-naturalized pronunciation (plà) /plɑ/.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French plat (French plat) (adjective) flat (late 12th cent. with reference to a body or parts of it; second half of the 13th cent. with reference to material objects; earlier in sense ‘straight’, with reference to legs (c1100)), having a horizontal surface (early 12th cent.), flat, level (1364 or earlier with reference to a stretch of land), calm (late 14th cent. or earlier with reference to the sea), blunt, brusque (1485; now obsolete), (adverb) into a flat position, on to the ground (c1165), in a flat position, on the ground (late 12th cent. or earlier), (of direction) directly, straight (14th cent., earliest in the phrase tout plat ), bluntly, brusquely (late 14th cent.; now obsolete) < an unattested post-classical Latin form *plattus (adjective) flat, smooth, further etymology uncertain; perhaps < ancient Greek πλατύς broad, flat ( < the same Indo-European base as Sanskrit pr̥thu- , Avestan pərəθu- broad). Compare Old Occitan, Occitan plat (a1149), Italian piatto (1313), both adjectives, earliest in sense A. 3. Compare flat adj., flat adv.Compare also ( < Old French, and with a semantic spectrum similar to that of the English word) Middle Dutch, Dutch plat , Middle Low German plat (German regional (Low German) platt ), adjective and adverb, Middle High German blat , plat (adjective, only in compounds; German platt , adjective and adverb (both late 15th cent. as †plat , first in West Central and East Central sources)), Old Swedish plat (Swedish platt , †plat ), Old Danish, Danish plat (in Old Swedish and Old Danish only as adverb, in the modern languages as adjective and adverb). With sense A. 1 compare later Shetland Scots plats :1932 A. Horsbøl tr. J. Jakobsen Etymol. Dict. Norn Lang. in Shetland II. 659/1 To sit plats on the flør. Sense B. 2 is apparently unparalleled in French, but is paralleled among the other Germanic borrowings of the French word: from at least the beginning of the 15th cent. in Middle Dutch, Dutch, from the mid 15th cent. in Old Swedish, Swedish, from the late 15th cent. in early modern German (now German regional (Central)), from the beginning of the 16th cent. in Old Danish, Danish, from the 16th cent. in Middle Low German (now German regional (Low German)). The Middle English and Scots forms with long vowel perhaps reflect the French feminine form, or are perhaps by association with variation in the corresponding noun between plate n. and plat n.²

Etymology: Either cognate with Middle Dutch platten to strike, Middle High German blatzen, platzen to crash, to strike noisily (German platzen to strike, to burst, to crash; compare German plätzen to shoot), Swedish regional plätta to crash, to smack, to slap (of imitative origin), or directly < plat n.¹In Old English the compound verb ēarplættan (also in prefixed form ge-ēarplættan), ēarplættian to box the ears, is also attested.

Etymology: Partly < plat adv. and partly < plat adj., probably reinforced by Anglo-Norman plater, platter to flatten (late 12th cent. or earlier), (used reflexively) to prostrate oneself (late 13th cent. or earlier; < plat plat adj.) and Old French platir to fall down flat (second half of the 12th cent.), Middle French platir to flatten (15th–16th cent.; French regional (Anjou) platir to iron (clothes); < plat plat adj.).In sense 3 after Middle French aplatir (1331 in this sense; French aplatir ; < a- (see a- prefix⁵) + plat plat adj.). Sense 4 may perhaps originally show a different word; perhaps compare plat v.¹

Etymology: Originally a generalization of past tense and past participle variants of pleat v. (see β forms at that entry). Compare earlier plait v., and also plat n.⁶, plet v.Past tense and past participle forms in plat- (with short ă ) after the end of the early modern period are listed here; for earlier spellings of this type, see β forms at pleat v. The following example may show late currency in Scots of a past tense plat of this verb in intransitive use in the sense ‘to intertwine’, although it may rather represent a conscious archaism (see forms and discussion s.v. pleat v.):1803 Douglas Tragedy in F. J. Child Eng. & Sc. Ballads I. 101 They twa met, and they twa plat, And fain they wad be near.

Etymology: < plat n.³ Compare later plot v.¹