plait

See also: plaît

English

A box plait with a piped edge at the top.

A person's hair in a long plait.

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /pleɪt/, /plæt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Homophones: plate, plat
• Rhymes: -æt
• Rhymes: -eɪt

Noun

plait (plural plaits)

1. 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

2. 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

• French plait
• lemon plait
• Polish plait

 

Related terms

• pleat

Translations

flat fold

• Catalan: dobleg (ca) m
• Finnish: taite (fi), vekki (fi)
• French: pli (fr) m
• German: Falte (de) f
• Italian: piega (it) f, pieghettatura f, plissettatura (it) f
• Portuguese: dobra (pt) f, prega (pt) f
• Romanian: pliu (ro) n, fald (ro) n
• Russian: скла́дка (ru) f (skládka)
• Spanish: pliegue (es) m

braid — see braid

Further reading

• Plait in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Verb

plait (third-person singular simple present plaits, present participle plaiting, simple past and past participle plaited)

1. (transitive) To fold; to double in narrow folds; to pleat

   to plait a ruffle

2. (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

• plait fog
• plait sawdust

 

Translations

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.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} plekti (eo)

Anagrams

• Patil, Pilat, lapti

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

plait

1. post-1990 spelling of plaît (third-person singular present indicative of plaire)

Anagrams

• pilât, pliât

Middle English

Etymology

From Old French plait, plet.

Noun

plait (plural plaits)

1. Alternative form of ple

Old French

Alternative forms

• plai
• plaid
• plaist
• plee
• pleit
• plet

Etymology

From Latin placitum (“decree”).

Noun

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

1. agreement
2. argument; dispute
3. court (of law)
4. plea; ask; demand

Related terms

• plaidier

Descendants

• French: plaid
• → Middle English: plait
  • English: plea
  • Scots: plaid

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (plait)
• plai on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub