place

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A particular point, area, or location.

   This is a lovely place for a picnic.

2. 2
   noun

   A town, region, or area where someone lives or that you can visit.

   They come from a small place near Chicago.

3. 3
   noun

   The proper or usual position where something belongs.

   I put the lamp back in its place.

4. 4
   noun

   The situation that someone is in.

   If you were in my place, what would you do?

5. 5
   noun

   A position in a list, sequence, or order.

   She finished in second place.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Place was adopted from French in the early Middle Ages and ultimately derives from Latin platea, “open space,” itself from Greek plateia hodos, “broad way.” It first had the sense of a public square, and the more general meaning “a space that can be occupied” developed in Middle English.

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, and plaza. In the…

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary