"P" Word Origins

placability

Origin

From Latin plācābilitās. Compare French placabilité.

placable

Origin

From Latin plācābilis.

placard

Middle French

From Middle French placard, related to a verb meaning "to stick or paste" — a placard was originally something pasted onto a wall.

placate

Latin

From Latin placatus, "calmed, appeased," related to placere, "to please."

placation

Origin

From Latin placatio.

place

Latin

From Latin platea, "broad street, plaza," via Old French place — the same root gives us "plaza" and "piazza" in other languages.

placebo

Latin

From Latin placebo, "I will please," originally a line from a church prayer, later adopted into medicine for a "pleasing" but medically inactive treatment.

placed

Latin

From place, which came through Old French from Latin platea 'broad street', itself from Greek plateia (hodos) 'broad way'.

placement

Origin

From "place" plus the noun suffix "-ment."

placenta

Latin

From Latin placenta, "flat cake," describing the organ's flattened, round shape.

placid

Latin

From French placide, from Latin placidus, "calm, peaceful," related to placere, "to please."

placidity

Origin

From placid + -ity, from Latin placiditās (“mildness, placidity”).

placket

Origin

Either a variant of placard or borrowed from Middle French plaquette (“metal plate”), from plaquer (“to lay or clap on”). See placard.

plagiarism

Latin

From Latin plagiarius, "kidnapper," extended to someone who "kidnaps" another's words or ideas.

plague

Latin

From Latin plaga, "blow, wound," related to a verb meaning "to strike."

plaid

Scottish Gaelic

From Scots plaid, of uncertain origin, possibly linked to Scottish Gaelic words for a blanket or covering.

plaidoyer

Origin

Borrowed from French plaidoyer.

plain

Latin

From Latin planus, "flat, level," via Old French plain — a doublet of "plane," "piano," and "llano."

plainly

Middle English

From Middle English pleinly, from "plain" plus the adverb suffix "-ly."

plaint

Origin

From Middle English plainte, borrowed from Anglo-Norman plainte (“lamentation”), plaint (“lament”), and Old French pleinte (“lamentation”), pleint (“lament”) (modern French plainte), from Medieval Latin plancta (“plaint”), from Latin planctus (“a beating of the breast in lamentation, beating, lamentation”), from Latin plango (“to beat one's breast, to lament”); see plain.

plaintiff

Old French

From Old French plaintif, "complaining" — the same root that gives us "plaintive," making them etymological twins.

plaintive

Old French

From Old French pleintif, "lamenting," from plainte, "complaint" — a doublet of "plaintiff."

plait

Latin

From Old French pleit, ultimately from Latin plectere, "to weave" — a doublet of "pleat" and "plight" (in its older "fold" sense).

plan

Latin

From French plan, "flat surface, ground plot," from Latin planus, "flat" — related to "plane" and "plain."

planar

Origin

From Late Latin plānārius (“relating to a plane”), derived from Latin plānus (“flat”, “level”), equivalent to plane + -ar, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat”).

planche

Origin

Borrowed from French planche (“board”). Doublet of phalange, phalanx, planch, plancha, and plank.

Planck

German · 1858

Named after the German physicist Max Planck (1858-1947), a founder of quantum theory.

plane

Latin · 1600

From Latin planum, "flat surface," a noun derived from planus, "flat, level" — introduced in the 1600s to separate the geometric sense from the older word "plain," which it's a doublet of.

planer

Origin

From Middle English planer, planere, equivalent to plane + -er.

planet

Ancient Greek

From Greek planetes, "wanderer" — the ancient Greeks noticed that a handful of bright points in the sky moved against the fixed background of stars, so they called them "wandering stars."

planetarium

Latin

Formed from planet plus the Latin ending -arium (a place for something), on the model of words like aquarium.

planetary

Origin

From planet plus the adjective-forming suffix -ary.

plank

Latin

From Old French planke, ultimately from Latin phalanga, itself borrowed from Greek phalanx — the same root that gives us "phalanx."

planking

Origin

From plank + -ing.

plankter

Origin

Borrowed from German Plankter, from Koine Greek πλαγκτήρ (planktḗr, “wanderer; one who leads another astray, beguiler”), modelled after German Plankton (“plankton”). Πλαγκτήρ (Planktḗr) is derived from Ancient Greek πλάζομαι (plázomai) (the mediopassive of πλᾰ́ζω (plắzō, “to turn away from (something); to roam, wander”)) + -τήρ (-tḗr, suffix forming masculine agent nouns from verbs). By surface analysis, plankt- + -er.

plankton

German

Coined in German from Greek planktos, "drifting" — the same root idea as "planet," things that wander or drift.

planner

Origin

Formed from plan plus the agent suffix -er, meaning "one who plans."

plant

Latin

From Old English plante, ultimately from Latin planta, "sprout, cutting." The factory/machinery sense grew out of an old Latin meaning of "something that propagates or produces."

Plantagenet

Latin

Originally a nickname for Geoffrey of Anjou, said to have worn a sprig of yellow broom blossom in his hat — "planta genista" in Latin, meaning "sprig of broom." His descendants later adopted it as a surname.

plantain

Latin

From Latin plantago, related to planta, "sole of the foot," because of the plant's broad, flat leaves. The banana-like fruit is a separate, unrelated plant that happens to share the English name via Spanish.

plantation

Latin

From Latin plantatio, "a planting," from plantare, "to plant." Its use for a colonial estate comes from the older sense of "establishing a settlement" on new land.

planter

Origin

From plant plus the agent suffix -er.

plaque

French

Borrowed from French plaque, "plate, slab," from a Middle Dutch word for a patch or thin sheet of beaten metal.

plash

Origin

From Middle English plasch, plasche, plash, plashe (“pool of standing water, marshy place; torrent of water (?)”), from Late Old English plæsċ, plesċ (“pool; puddle”), probably from Proto-West Germanic *plask (“pool”); further etymology unknown, probably ultimately onomatopoeic, referring to the sound of splashing. cognates * German platschen (“to splash”) * Middle Dutch plasch, plas (“pool”) (modern Dutch plas (“pool, watering hole”), plassen (“to splash, splatter”); Middle French plache (“pool”), plascq (“damp meadow”); Anglo-Norman plasseis (“marshes”, plural)) * West Frisian plaskje (“to splash, splatter”)

plashy

Origin

From plash + -y.

plasm

Origin

From Late Latin plasma (“mold”) or Ancient Greek πλάσμα (plásma, “something formed”), in some cases via German Plasma or French plasme, like English plasma.

plasma

Late Latin

From Greek plasma, "something molded or formed," via Late Latin.

plasmic

Origin

From plasma + -ic.