pleat

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English pleiten, also plet,^[2] from pleit (“a fold”),^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman pleit (“fold, twisting”),^[4][2] and most dictionaries call it a variant of plait.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]} The OED notes that the verb is first attested earlier than either the noun or the verb plait, and that the noun pleat is either a variant of plait or directly from the verb.^[4] Ayto takes pleat and plait, and also plight "predicament", as essentially the same word, all from Vulgar Latin *plictum (“fold”),^[14][4] a noun use of a past participle of Latin plicō (“to fold”),^[14][4] from Proto-Indo-European *plek- (“to plait”).^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

To intertwine strands, to plait: about 1300, in Iacob and Iosep.^[4] Hoad and Merriam-Webster date the verb to the 14th century,^[6][3] and Barnhart gives 1570, Etymonline the 1560s, for the spelling pleat.^[10][15] The noun is recorded from before 1529, in Skelton,^[4] and in Barnhart from 1581.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The verb is recorded of folding from about 1390, in Piers Plowman,^[4] and Chaucer used pleiten for "to pleat, fold".^[16] Ayto explains that the two spellings then drew apart: plait came to mean a braid in the 16th century, while pleat kept the sense of a fold.^[14] The spelling pleat dropped out of print from about 1700 to the late 19th century, but the pronunciation survived, and the written form returned for a fold in cloth.^[10][12][15] Walker's pronouncing dictionary of 1791, as Weekley notes, still condemned the sound as a vicious pronunciation of plait.^[9] In Scots, Cumberland and Yorkshire dialect pleat remained simply a form of plait.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – verb, to intertwine strands; to plait.^[4]
• c. 1390 – verb, to join or fold; later, to gather fabric into regular folds.^[4]
• before 1529 – noun, a fold of cloth or drapery.^[4]
• c. 1606 – noun, a plait of hair or cord, in Drayton.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fold in cloth made by doubling it on itself and pressing or stitching it in place: The kilt has deep pleats at the back.^{[11][18][3][4]}
2. A similar fold in something other than cloth, such as a lampshade or filter.^[3][1]
3. (chiefly Scottish) A plait of hair or cord.^[13][4]

Verb

1. To arrange cloth or part of a garment in pleats: The tailor pleated the front of the trousers.^{[11][18][3][4]}
2. (dialect) To plait hair or strands.^[3][13][17]

Word family

• pleater
• pleatless
• kick pleat
• accordion pleat
• box pleat
• knife pleat
• inverted pleat

Related words

• plait
• plight
• ply
• plicate

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
15. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
16. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
17. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
18. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin