"P" Word Origins

plaster

Latin

From Latin emplastrum, "a medicinal plaster or bandage," shortened over time on its way through Old English and Old French.

plasterboard

Origin

From plaster + board.

plasterwork

Origin

From plaster + work.

plastic

Greek

From Greek plastikos, "able to be molded," from plassein, "to mold or form" — the same root as "plasma."

plat

Origin

The noun is derived from Middle English plat, platte (“flat part of a sword; flat piece of ground, plot of ground”), probably a variant of Middle English plot, (modern English plot) and influenced by Middle English plat, plate (modern English plate) and Anglo-Norman, Middle French and Old French plat. See platy-, plaice, flat. The verb is derived from the noun.

plate

Old French

From Old French plate, ultimately from Greek platys, "broad, flat." The slang sense meaning "foot" comes from Cockney rhyming slang, "plates of meat" for "feet."

plateau

French

Borrowed from French plateau, a diminutive of plat, "flat" — the same root as "plate."

plateful

Origin

From plate + -ful.

platform

French

From French plateforme, literally "flat form" — plate meaning "flat" plus forme, "form."

platforming

Origin

From platform + -ing.

plating

Origin

From plate plus the suffix -ing.

platinum

Latin

From Spanish platina, "little silver," because the metal was originally found as an unwanted impurity in gold and seemed like an inferior form of silver.

platitude

Origin

Borrowed from French platitude, from plat (“flat”).

Plato

Greek

From Greek Πλάτων (Plátōn), from πλατύς (platús, "broad, wide"), possibly a nickname referring to his physique or broad forehead.

Platonic

Greek

From the name of the Greek philosopher Plato, whose ideas about pure, non-physical forms of love and beauty gave rise to the adjective.

platonic relationship

Greek

From the name of the Greek philosopher Plato, whose Symposium describes a love that rises above physical desire towards the ideal; the modern narrower sense of 'friendship without sex' developed later.

platonics

Origin

From Platonic after -ics.

platonist

Origin

From Latin Platonista, from Plato + -ista, equivalent to Plato + -ist.

platoon

French

From French peloton, literally "little ball" or "small group," the same root that gives cycling's "peloton."

platt

Germanic

Related to German Platt, a short form of Plattdeutsch ("Low German"), and to the general Germanic root meaning "flat" or "open ground."

platter

Old French

From Old French plater, related to plate, "metal plate."

platypus

Greek

From Greek platypous, "flat-footed" — platys, "flat," plus pous, "foot."

plaudit

Origin

For earlier plaudite, borrowed from Latin plaudite, second-person plural imperative of plaudere (“to applaud”).

plausibility

Origin

Borrowed from New Latin plausibilitās.

plausible

Latin

From Latin plausibilis, "deserving applause," from plaudere, "to applaud" — the sense shifted over time from "praiseworthy" to simply "believable."

play

Old English

From Old English plegian, "to play, exercise," related to Old English plega meaning both "game" and, historically, "battle" or "quick movement."

playa

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish playa, "beach." The desert-basin sense comes from the same word used regionally in Spanish for a dry lakebed.

playback

Origin

A compound of play and back.

playbook

Origin

A compound of play and book.

playboy

Origin

A compound of play and boy.

playdate

Origin

Simply play + date — a date set aside for playing.

playday

Origin

From play + day.

player

Old English

From Old English pleġere ("athlete, one who plays"), built from play plus the agent suffix -er.

playfellow

Origin

From play + fellow.

playful

Middle English

From Middle English pleiful — play plus the suffix -ful, "full of play."

playfully

Origin

From playful + -ly.

playground

Old English

From play + ground, echoing the older Old English pleġstede ("play-place").

playhouse

Origin

From Middle English *pleyhous, possibly continuing Old English pleġhūs (“playhouse, theatre”). By surface analysis, play + house. Compare Dutch speelhuis, German Spielhaus.

playing

Origin

From play + -ing.

playlist

Origin

From play + list.

playmate

Origin

From play + mate; an older equivalent was playfeer.

playoff

Origin

A noun formed from the phrasal verb play off.

playpen

Origin

From play + pen (an enclosure).

playroom

Origin

From play + room.

PlayStation

Origin

From play + station; the name was coined by Sony for its console line.

plaything

Origin

From play + thing.

playtime

Origin

From play + time.

playwright

Origin

From play + wright ("a maker or builder") — literally a "maker of plays," on the same pattern as shipwright.