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plan

Etymology and origin of the French word plan

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French plan
English plan

The Robert dictionaries distinguish plan “flat, a plane”, borrowed from Latin planus, from plan “plan, map”, originally plant, from planter.[1][2][3]

plan1 flat; a plane

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1520, Estienne de La Roche
Ultimate origin
Latin (plānus)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /plɑ̃/[4]

Forms

plan (feminine plane, masculine plural plans, feminine plural planes)[4]

Etymology

It is a learned Renaissance borrowing from Latin plānus (“level, smooth, flat”),[5][3][6] which had earlier given the inherited adjective plain.[3][7] The noun (1553) is the adjective used substantively.[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Estienne de La Roche's Arithmétique (1520) has superficie plane, a plane surface.[5][3]

Semantic evolution

Geometers introduced it, superficie plane gave way to surface plane (1680), and, from 1691 it described any object without unevenness or curvature, sometimes overlapping with plat.[3][8] As a noun it was a flat surface (1553), whence plan incliné (Descartes, 1637), plan d'eau (1855; a stretch of calm water, 1935), plan de sustentation (1904) and plan de travail; the geometric plane is recorded in 1680.[3][2]

Classical painting used plan for each of the planes showing depth in perspective (1678), whence the theatre (1803) and the figurative “relative importance”: au second plan (1835), de premier plan (1890), sur le même plan (1901), sur le plan de (1908).[3] Photography and cinema took it for a shot (plan rapproché, 1919, gros plan, 1928, plan américain, 1944).[3]

Timeline

  • 1520 – Superficie plane.[5]
  • 1553 – The noun.[3]
  • 1637 – Plan incliné in Descartes.[3]
  • 1678 – In painting.[3]
  • 1811 – Arrière-plan.[3]
  • 1835 – Au second plan.[3]
  • 1919 – Plan rapproché in cinema.[3]
  • 1928 – Gros plan.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Flat, level, plane: une surface plane, géométrie plane.[8][2]

Noun

  1. A plane, flat surface: plan incliné, plan d'eau, plan de travail.[2][3]
  2. (geometry) A plane.[4][2]
  3. A level, ground (in a picture or a view): premier plan, arrière-plan, au second plan: in the background.[3][4]
  4. (cinema) A shot: gros plan, plan américain.[4][3]
  5. Sur le plan de: as regards, in terms of.[3]

Word family

  • planéité
  • arrière-plan
  • biplan
  • monoplan

plan2 plan, map

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
after 1450, Villon

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /plɑ̃/[4]

Forms

plan m (plural plans)[4]

Etymology

It is the noun of planter, first written “plant” and in the 16th century confused with “plan” “flat”, to which it was close.[3][2][9][10] The REW traces the sense “ground plan” to Italian pianta, and Etymonline takes the English word, from French, as “a drawing on a flat surface”, from Latin “planum”.[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Villon's jargon ballads (after 1450) have être en plant “to be in prison”, probably from planter “to stay put”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Several slang senses keep the idea of staying put: a hiding place (1821, in the prison hulks; compare planque) and laisser en plan “to leave in the lurch” (1821).[3][13] The general sense grew from “the base on which a building is set” (1520–1546), whence the drawing that lays out a building or a town (1538) and its projection on a horizontal surface (1545); lever un plan dates from 1680.[3][2]

Abstractly a plan was a set of arrangements for carrying out a project (1627), the outline of a work (1670) and a set of government measures (1875), as in plan quinquennal (from Russian) and plan comptable (1947).[3] Tirer des plans (1821) comes from convicts' escape plans, and since the 1970s young people have used plan for any planned outing (un bon plan).[3][4] English plan was taken from French in the 1670s.[12]

Timeline

  • After 1450 – Être en plant in Villon.[3]
  • 1538 – The plan of a building or town.[3]
  • 1545 – A horizontal projection.[2]
  • 1627 – A plan of action.[3]
  • 1670 – The plan of a work.[3]
  • 1670s – English plan.[12]
  • 1821 – Laisser en plan, tirer des plans.[13][3]
  • 1875 – A government plan.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A plan, drawing (of a building): le plan d'une maison, acheter sur plan.[2][9]
  2. A map (of a town, a network): un plan de Paris, un plan de métro.[4][9]
  3. A plan, scheme: plan d'action, plan de vol, plan B.[9][4]
  4. An outline (of a text): le plan d'une dissertation.[9][3]
  5. (familiar) A plan, deal: un bon plan.[4][3]
  6. Laisser en plan: to leave in the lurch, tirer des plans sur la comète: to build castles in the air.[4][13]

Word family

  • planifier
  • planification
  • plan-plan

References

  1. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c 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
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 32b
  7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 22a
  11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  12. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  13. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Plan.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/plan. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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