place
/ˈpleɪ̯s/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.71 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Ay, sir, the other squirrel was stolen from me by the hangman's boys in the market-place"
- "They live at Westminster Place."
- "He is going back to his native place on vacation."
- "From another point of view, it was a place without a soul. The well-to-do had hearts of stone; the rich were brutally bumptious; the Press, the Municipality, all the public men, were ridiculously, vaingloriously self-satisfied."
- "We asked the restaurant to give us a table with three places."
- "My Lady Dedlock has been down at what she calls, in familiar conversation, her "place" in Lincolnshire."
Etymology
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, platz, and plaza. In the etymological chain from Latin platēa, note Old French place, which has multiple descendants — including German Platz, itself with many descendants (e.g., Russian плац (plac)). Also note a more distant chain node Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús), whence English Plato and English plate (via Latin).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *pleth₂-, place, plæċe, platēa, πλατεῖα, placen
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpleɪ̯s/
- British English: /ˈpleɪ̯s/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Places.
Inflected Forms
places (plural)
pleace (alternative)
places (present, singular)
placing (participle, present)
placed (participle, past)
placed (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
placed (first person, past)
placest (archaic, present)
placed (past, second person)
placedst (archaic, past)