plate

A2 Topic:Food & Drink

US /ˈpleɪt/ UK /ˈpleɪ̯t/ See IPA manual

Homophones

plait /pleɪt/

Minimal pairs

Sounds like prate /l/ vs /r/

Freq #2088

Meanings

1

noun
A flat, slightly curved dish that you eat food from.

I filled my plate from the table.
2

noun
The amount of food on such a dish.

I ate a plate of beans.
3

noun
A flat, thin piece of metal or other hard material.

The most expensive part of a solar cell is a thin silicon plate.
4

verb
To cover a metal object with a thin layer of another metal.

They plate the spoons with silver.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a flat, slightly curved... dish

3 noun · a flat, thin piece of metal... sheet

Word family

Forms platedplatefulplatefulsplatesplating

Derived forms armplateautoplatebackplatebaseplatebedplateblue-platebodyplateboilerplatebookplatebreastplatebrest-platebuttplate

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

crustal plate
a large rigid section of the Earth's outer layer that moves slowly

Adjective + noun

Idioms (2)

See all

Simplified etymology

Plate originally meant a flat, thin sheet, usually of metal. It comes through medieval Latin plata, “plate armour,” from Greek platus, “flat.” The dinner-plate sense comes from Old French plat, which meant both a platter and a dish of meat.

Etymology

From Middle English plate, from Old French plate, from Medieval Latin plata, from Vulgar Latin *plat(t)us, from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “broad, flat, wide”). Compare Spanish plato. (foot): Cockney rhyming slang, from "plates of meat" for "feet".

plate Middle English plata la-med *plattus la-vul πλατύς Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Food & Drink

External links

# plate

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈpleɪt/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈpleɪ̯t/
**Frequency rank:** 2088

## Meanings
1. A flat, slightly curved dish that you eat food from.
2. The amount of food on such a dish.
3. A flat, thin piece of metal or other hard material.
4. To cover a metal object with a thin layer of another metal.

## Examples
- I filled my plate from the table.
- I ate a plate of beans.
- The most expensive part of a solar cell is a thin silicon plate.
- They plate the spoons with silver.

## Derived Forms
- armplate
- autoplate
- backplate
- baseplate
- bedplate
- blue-plate
- bodyplate
- boilerplate
- bookplate
- breastplate
- brest-plate
- buttplate

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: plate
- Root: plata
- Root: *plattus
- Root: πλατύς

## Etymology
From Middle English plate, from Old French plate, from Medieval Latin plata, from Vulgar Latin *plat(t)us, from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “broad, flat, wide”). Compare Spanish plato. (foot): Cockney rhyming slang, from "plates of meat" for "feet".

## AI Etymology
Plate comes from Middle English plate, from Old French plate, from Medieval Latin plata, from Vulgar Latin *plat(t)us, from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “broad, flat, wide”). Compare Spanish plato. (foot): Cockney rhyming slang, from "plates of meat" for "feet". In present-day English it covers a flat, slightly curved dish that you eat food from, the amount of food on such a dish, and a flat, thin piece of metal or other hard material. The wider family includes derived forms such as armplate, autoplate, backplate, baseplate, bedplate.

## Topics
- Food & Drink

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