plait
See also: plaît
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English pleit, from Anglo-Norman pleit (compare Old French ploit), from Latin plectō, which is akin to Old Norse flétta (Danish flette), Russian плести́ (plestí) and also to Old English fleohtan, which it displaced. Doublet of plight (“plait, fold”) and pleat.
Pronunciation edit
- IPA(key): /pleɪt/, /plæt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- Homophones: plate, plat
- Rhymes: -æt
- Rhymes: -eɪt
Noun edit
plait (plural plaits)
- A flat fold; a doubling, as of cloth; a pleat.
- a box plait
- 1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
- the plaits and foldings of the drapery
- A braid, as of hair or straw; a plat.
- 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:
- Only the hair as it arched so beautifully from her temples was mixed with silver, and the two simple plaits that lay on her shoulders were filigree of silver and brown.
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
flat fold
braid — see braid
Further reading edit
Verb edit
plait (third-person singular simple present plaits, present participle plaiting, simple past and past participle plaited)
- (transitive) To fold; to double in narrow folds; to pleat
- to plait a ruffle
- (transitive) To interweave the strands or locks of; to braid
- to plait hair
- plaiting rope
- 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars:
- Her abundant hair, of a dark and glossy brown, was neatly plaited and coiled above an ivory column that rose straight from a pair of gently sloping shoulders, clearly outlined beneath the light muslin frock that covered them.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
to double in narrow folds — see pleat
to interweave — see braid
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Anagrams edit
French edit
Pronunciation edit
Audio (file)
Verb edit
plait
Anagrams edit
Middle English edit
Etymology edit
From Old French plait, plet.
Noun edit
plait (plural plaits)
- Alternative form of ple
Old French edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Latin placitum (“decree”).
Noun edit
plait oblique singular, m (oblique plural plaiz or plaitz, nominative singular plaiz or plaitz, nominative plural plait)
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
References edit
- Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (plait)
- plai on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub