Where does “plateful” come from?
Plateful comes from Middle English -ful combined with Latin plata, from Latin plattus, from Ancient Greek πλατύς, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European pleh₁- meaning broad or flat.
plateful (English): The quantity contained on a plate
Definitions
- The quantity contained on a plate
Ancestry of “plateful”, step by step
plateful traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English plate
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | plate | A slightly curved but almost flat dish from which... |
| 2 | Old French | plate | a flat metal disk; a flat plate of armor |
| 3 | Medieval Latin | plata | silver |
| 4 | Vulgar Latin | plattus | flattened; flat; smooth |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | πλατύς | wide, broad; flat, level; broad-shouldered |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | pléth₂us | flat, broad |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | pleth₂- | flat |
via English ful
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | ful | — |