Source etymology 1
Original entry ↗An open space, particularly a city square, market square, or courtyard. · A street, sometimes but not always surrounding a public place, square, or plaza of the same name. · An inhabited area: a village, town, or city. · Any area of the earth: a region.
From Middle English place, conflation of Old English plæċe (“place, an open space, street”) and Old French place (“place, an open space”), both from Latin platēa (“plaza, wide street”), from Ancient Greek πλατεῖα (plateîa), shortening of πλατεῖα ὁδός (plateîa hodós, “broad way”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“to spread”), extended form of *pleh₂- (“flat”). Displaced native Old English stōw, stede (partially), and -ern. Compare also English pleck (“plot of ground”), West Frisian plak (“place, spot, location”), Dutch plek (“place, spot, patch”). Doublet of piatza, piazza, platz, and plaza. In the etymological chain from Latin platēa, note Old French place, which has multiple descendants — including German Platz, itself with many descendants (e.g., Russian плац (plac)). Also note a more distant chain node Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús), whence English Plato and English plate (via Latin).
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Root classification mention*pleth₂-ine-pro
- Inherited-form mentionplaceenm
- Inherited-form mentionplæċeang · place, an open space, street
- Derivation mentionplacefro · place, an open space
- Derivation mentionplatēala · plaza, wide street
- Derivation mentionπλατεῖαgrc
- Derivation mention*pleth₂-ine-pro · to spread
- Doublet mentionpiatzaen
- Doublet mentionpiazzaen
- Doublet mentionplatzen
- Doublet mentionplazaen
- Cognate mentionPlatzde
- Cognate mentionплацru
- Cognate mentionπλατύςgrc
- Cognate mentionPlatoen
- Cognate mentionplateen
This page abbreviates 20 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
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"name": "root",
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"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*pleth₂-"
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{
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"expansion": "Middle English place"
},
{
"name": "inh",
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"t": "place, an open space, street"
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"expansion": "Old English plæċe (“place, an open space, street”)"
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{
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"args": {
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"expansion": "Old French place (“place, an open space”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "la",
"3": "platēa",
"t": "plaza, wide street"
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"expansion": "Latin platēa (“plaza, wide street”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
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"1": "en",
"2": "grc",
"3": "πλατεῖα"
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"t": "to spread"
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},
{
"name": "noncog",
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},
"expansion": "Old English stōw"
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{
"name": "noncog",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "pleck",
"t": "plot of ground"
},
"expansion": "English pleck (“plot of ground”)"
},
{
"name": "noncog",
"args": {
"1": "fy",
"2": "plak",
"t": "place, spot, location"
},
"expansion": "West Frisian plak (“place, spot, location”)"
},
{
"name": "noncog",
"args": {
"1": "nl",
"2": "plek",
"t": "place, spot, patch"
},
"expansion": "Dutch plek (“place, spot, patch”)"
},
{
"name": "doublet",
"args": {
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"3": "piazza",
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"5": "plaza"
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{
"name": "m+",
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"expansion": "Latin platēa"
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{
"name": "m+",
"args": {
"1": "fro",
"2": "place"
},
"expansion": "Old French place"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "de",
"2": "Platz"
},
"expansion": "German Platz"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "ru",
"2": "плац"
},
"expansion": "Russian плац (plac)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "grc",
"2": "πλατύς"
},
"expansion": "Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "Plato"
},
"expansion": "English Plato"
},
{
"name": "cog",
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"1": "en",
"2": "plate"
},
"expansion": "English plate"
}
],
"links": [
[
"place",
"place#Middle_English"
],
[
"plæċe",
"plæce#Old_English"
],
[
"place",
"place#Old_French"
],
[
"platēa",
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"πλατεῖα#Ancient_Greek"
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"πλατεῖα#Ancient_Greek"
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[
"ὁδός",
"ὁδός#Ancient_Greek"
],
[
"*pleth₂-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/pleth₂-"
],
[
"*pleh₂-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/pleh₂-"
],
[
"stōw",
"stow#Old_English"
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[
"stede",
"stede#Old_English"
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[
"-ern",
"-ern#Old_English"
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[
"pleck",
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[
"plak",
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[
"plek",
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[
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[
"piazza",
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"plaza",
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[
"platēa",
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[
"place",
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],
[
"Platz",
"Platz#German"
],
[
"плац",
"плац#Russian"
],
[
"πλατύς",
"πλατύς#Ancient_Greek"
],
[
"Plato",
"Plato#English"
],
[
"plate",
"plate#English"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [
{
"lang": "Pijin",
"lang_code": "pis",
"word": "ples"
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{
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"lang_code": "tpi",
"word": "ples"
}
],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"An open space, particularly a city square, market square, or courtyard.",
"A street, sometimes but not always surrounding a public place, square, or plaza of the same name.",
"An inhabited area: a village, town, or city.",
"Any area of the earth: a region."
],
"tags": [
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"often"
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"lexicalSenses": 20,
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}