plaid

English

Etymology 1

From Scots plaid, of uncertain origin; perhaps from a past participle form of ply. Scottish Gaelic plaide (“blanket”) is probably a borrowing from Scots.

Also compare Scottish Gaelic peall (“covering, veil, blanket”) << Latin pellis (“hide, covering”), but the OED finds the sound changes problematic.

Pronunciation

• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /pled/, /plad/
• (UK, Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /plæd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æd

Noun

plaid (countable and uncountable, plural plaids)

1. (textiles) A type of twilled woollen cloth, often with a tartan or chequered pattern. [from 16^thc.]
   • 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01:

     It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.

2. A length of such material used as a piece of clothing, formerly worn in the Scottish Highlands and other parts of northern Britain and remaining as an item of ceremonial dress worn by members of Scottish pipe bands. [from 16^thc.]
   • 2009, John Sadler, Glencoe, Amberley, published 2009, page 47:

     In battle, the plaid was customarily shrugged off before the charge bit home, and the warrior came into contact with only his long, saffron shirt (‘leine chrochach’) to preserve modesty.

3. The typical chequered pattern of a plaid; tartan. [from 19^thc.]

Derived terms

• belted plaid
• glen plaid
• Scotch plaid

 

Translations

material

• Bulgarian: шотландски кариран плат m (šotlandski kariran plat)
• French: tissu écossais m
• Manx: breckan m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pledd n

• Russian: плед (ru) m (pled), шотла́ндский плед m (šotlándskij pled)
• Scots: plaid
• Spanish: tela escocesa f
• Tagalog: eskosesa
• Welsh: plod m

piece of clothing

• French: plaid (fr) m
• German: Plaid (de) n, Schulerdecke f, Umhangtuch n
• Polish: pled (pl) m
• Russian: плед (ru) m (pled), шотла́ндка (ru) f (šotlándka)
• Scots: plaid
• Scottish Gaelic: féileadh
• Tagalog: eskosesa
• Welsh: plod m

pattern

• Esperanto: plejdo
• French: motif écossais m
• German: Schottenstoff m, Schottenmuster n
• Polish: w kratkę
• Russian: кле́тчатый (ru) (klétčatyj) (chequered, adjective)
• Scots: plaid
• Spanish: cuadros escoceses m pl, cuadrillé m
• Welsh: plod m

Adjective

plaid (comparative more plaid, superlative most plaid)

1. Having a pattern or colors which resemble a Scottish tartan; checkered or marked with bars or stripes at right angles to one another.

Etymology 2

Alternative forms.

Verb

plaid

1. (archaic) simple past and past participle of play
   • 1774, Dr Samuel Johnson, Preface to the Works of the English Poets, J. Nichols, Volume II, Page 134,

     "...then plaid on the organ, and sung..."

French

Etymology 1

From Old French plait, from Latin placitum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plɛ/
• Homophones: plaids, plaie, plaies, plais, plaît

Noun

plaid m (plural plaids)

1. (history) placitum (kind of medieval council)

Etymology 2

From English plaid.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plɛd/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: plaids, plaide, plaident, plaides

Noun

plaid m (plural plaids)

1. plaid
2. small blanket to sit on or to warm one’s legs

Further reading

• “plaid”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English plaid.

Noun

plaid m (invariable)

1. tartan rug (especially one used when travelling/traveling)

Middle English

Etymology

From Old French plait, plaid.

Noun

plaid

1. Alternative form of ple

Old French

Noun

plaid oblique singular, m (oblique plural plaiz or plaitz, nominative singular plaiz or plaitz, nominative plural plaid)

1. Alternative form of plait

Romansch

Alternative forms

• pled (Rumantsch Grischun, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter, Vallader)

Noun

plaid m (plural plaids)

1. (Sursilvan) word

Related terms

• pledari

Scots

Etymology

Uncertain; perhaps from a past participle form of ply.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pled/

Noun

plaid (plural plaids)

1. plaid

Welsh

Etymology

The original meaning was “row”, “rank”, later “partition”, possibly related to Irish pluid and Scottish Gaelic plaide (“blanket”); as Proto-Celtic had no /p/, the term is likely a borrowing, such as English and Scots plaid. However, the semantic development is unclear.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plai̯d/
• Rhymes: -ai̯d

Noun

plaid f (plural pleidiau)

1. (politics) a (political) party

   Plaid Cymru

   lit Party of Wales

Derived terms

• o blaid (“in favour (of)”)
• pleidiol (“partial, partisan”)
• pleidiwr (“party member”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of plaid

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
plaid	blaid	mhlaid	phlaid

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.