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plâtre

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Etymology and origin of the French word plâtre

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1165 Benoît de Sainte-Maure, Roman de Troie More words from the 12th century
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek ἔμπλαστρον

Pronunciation

Forms

plâtre m (plural plâtres)[1] Old French plastre (about 1165); the spelling plâtre dates from 1740.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from French emplâtre by aphaeresis, the loss of the first syllable, because wet plaster was compared to a poultice.[3][2][4][5][6] The derivative and its base grew so far apart in form that the link between them was no longer felt.[2] The base word goes back to Latin emplastrum, from Ancient Greek ἔμπλαστρον (émplastron, “daub, salve”), derived from a Greek verb meaning “to mould, shape”.[4][1]

Wiktionary and Littré instead derive it from Late Latin plastrum, itself an aphaeresis of the Latin word.[1][7] Old Occitan had plastre too.[4] Littré gives German Pflaster, with the same shortening, meaning both “plaster (for a wound)” and “pavement”.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as plastre in the Roman de Troie (about 1165), as a building material.[3][8]

Semantic evolution

The word names hydrated calcium sulphate used in building, and it gave a technical phraseology and the figurative battre quelqu'un comme plâtre “to beat someone very hard”, first found in a 15th-century farce as je vous battray plus que plastre.[2][3] The Petit Robert explains it by the plaster that was pulverized by beating.[9]

By metonymy it came to mean a thing made of plaster, especially a cast object (1551), and in the plural light plasterwork (1694); from this comes essuyer les plâtres, literally to live in a newly built house and figuratively to be the first to suffer the drawbacks of something new.[2][3] From 1647 it was a disparaging word for heavy make-up.[3][10] In surgery it names a plaster cast (1872), and être dans le plâtre followed in the 20th century.[3][8] In slang it meant money (1836–1843), a use that disappeared in the 20th century.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1165 – Plastre appears in the Roman de Troie.[3]
  • c. 1260 – The derivative plâtrier “plasterer” is recorded.[2]
  • after 1450 – The Farce du Cuvier has je vous battray plus que plastre.[3][2]
  • 1551 – Used of an object moulded in plaster.[3]
  • 1647 – Rotrou uses it for make-up.[3]
  • 1694 – Les plâtres “light plasterwork” is recorded.[3][2]
  • 1740 – The spelling plâtre appears.[2]
  • 1835 – Essuyer les plâtres is recorded.[2]
  • 1872 – The surgical plaster cast is recorded.[3]
  • 1962 – Used familiarly of an unripe, chalky camembert.[3][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Plaster, a white powder obtained by burning and grinding gypsum, which hardens when mixed with water.[11][12]
  2. Pierre à plâtre: gypsum, the stone from which plaster is made.[9][11]
  3. Les plâtres: the plasterwork of a building;[11][2] essuyer les plâtres, to be the first to live in a new building or to suffer the drawbacks of something new.[11][2]
  4. A plaster cast of a sculpture, or a plaster model for a work to be made in another material.[12]
  5. A plaster cast immobilizing a broken limb.[12][1]
  6. Battre quelqu'un comme plâtre: to beat someone violently.[11][12]
  7. (familiar) Something with a chalky consistency, especially an unripe camembert.[11][3]

Word family

  • placoplâtre
  • plâtrage
  • plâtras
  • plâtrer
  • plâtreux
  • plâtrier
  • plâtrière
  • plâtrerie
  • replâtrer

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 222a
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  11. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  12. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Plâtre.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/pl%C3%A2tre. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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