Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Russian word план

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1703
Borrowed from
French plan
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French plan
Dutch plan
English plan
German Plan
Italian piano
French piano
English piano
Russian план
From the same root
English planner ← plan
German planen ← Plan
English pianist ← piano

Pronunciation

Forms

план (plan) m inan (genitive пла́на, nominative plural пла́ны, genitive plural пла́нов, relational adjective пла́новый)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French plan, taken in Peter the Great's time.[2][3] Vasmer first finds it in Peter I's writings in 1704.[4] The sources disagree about the path.[4][5] Vasmer thinks it may have come through Polish plan or German Plan,[4] Shaposhnikov takes it from Dutch plan or from the German word, both from French,[5] Shansky and Bobrova take it from the German word only,[6] and Tsyganenko takes it straight from French.[3] Epishkin gives the sense “drawing” as French through German.[7]

The origin of the French word is disputed too.[4][8] Vasmer, Shansky and Kluge trace it to Latin planta (“sole of the foot”), so that a plan was first a ground plan.[4][9][6] Chernykh, Shaposhnikov and Tsyganenko derive it from plānum (“plane, level ground”), the noun use of plānus (“flat, level”).[8][5][3] Wiktionary allows both, deriving the French noun from an earlier plant, from planter, or from the Latin adjective.[1] In French the word meant “drawing of a future building” from 1558 and “detailed plan of action” from 1600.[5]

Early Russian also had the variant плян (1713) and the popular form плант, whence Smolensk плантовать (“to think out, plan”).[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Epishkin cites records of 1703 for the sense “drawing” and of 1711 for “intention”, with the variants плян (1708, 1712), плана (1709) and плант (1719).[7] Vasmer and Shaposhnikov give 1704, in Peter I's writings.[4][5] In 1713 Prince Kurakin reported that the French had sent a courier „с последним пляном, который подан от статов” “with the latest plan submitted by the States”.[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The first Russian senses were the drawing of a building, a fortress or an estate, and an intention or scheme: a 1729 book on British architecture has „планы и элевации, и профили” “plans, elevations and sections”.[7][5] The first dictionary to record it is Nordstet's of 1782, and the adjective плановый is recorded in dictionaries from 1847.[7][5]

Painting and the theatre added the plane of a picture or stage seen in perspective: Dal describes the first, second and third план of a picture as imaginary vertical planes at different depths.[10] Film added крупный план “close-up”, and the figurative sense “position, importance” grew from this: на первом плане “in the foreground, of first importance”.[11] The 18th century also used план for a painted shield for illuminations and fireworks.[7] The Soviet period made it a system of production targets set for a fixed term.[12]

In many regional dialects, from the Kuban to the north-west and Siberia, план means a household's plot of land or homestead.[13]

Timeline

  • 1703 – план “drawing”, the first record Epishkin cites.[7]
  • 1704 – план in the writings of Peter I.[4][5]
  • 1711 – the sense “intention, scheme”.[7]
  • 1713 – плян in Prince Kurakin's papers.[8][7]
  • 1719 – the variant плант.[7]
  • 1782 – first dictionary record, in Nordstet's dictionary.[7]
  • 1847 – the adjective плановый in a dictionary.[5][8]
  • 1900 – the regional sense “plot of land” in the Kuban.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A drawing or map showing an area, a building or an object on a plane, to scale.[14][15]
  2. A system of work fixed in advance, with its order and deadlines; an economic or production target: выполнить план “to fulfil the plan”.[14][12][1]
  3. An intention, a scheme: планы на лето “plans for the summer”.[14][15]
  4. The arrangement of the parts of something; an outline of a text.[14][16]
  5. The position of something in perspective, by its distance from the viewer; in film, the scale of a shot: крупный план “close-up”.[11][1]
  6. (figurative) A sphere or aspect, a point of view: в этом плане “in this respect”.[11]

Word family

  • плановый
  • планировать
  • планировка
  • планомерный
  • планёрка
  • запланировать
  • спланировать
  • промфинплан

Usage notes

План is also slang for a drug smoked from plants, usually hashish.[7][17] Epishkin treats it as a separate borrowing from French plante (“plant”), quoting Vysotsky in 1964;[7] Elistratov suggests it may come from drug users' or criminal slang (compare планокиша “hashish smoker”) or from the ordinary word.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Shansky, N. M.; Ivanov, V. V.; Shanskaya, T. V. (1975), Kratkij ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Краткий этимологический словарь русского языка], 3rd ed., Moskva: Prosveščenie, p. s.v. план
  3. ^ a b c Tsyganenko, G. P. (1989), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь русского языка], 2nd ed., Kiev: Radjans'ka škola, p. s.v. план
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 3, 273
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010), Ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Flinta / Nauka, p. 2, 133
  6. ^ a b Shansky, N. M.; Bobrova, T. A. (2004), Škol'nyj ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Школьный этимологический словарь русского языка], 7th ed., Moskva: Drofa, p. s.v. план
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Epishkin, N. I. (2010), Istoričeskij slovar' gallicizmov russkogo jazyka [Исторический словарь галлицизмов русского языка], Moskva: ÈTS, p. s.v. план
  8. ^ a b c d e f Chernykh, P. Ya. (1993), Istoriko-ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Историко-этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. 2, s.v. план
  9. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 709
  10. ^ Dal', V. I. (1880–1882), Tolkovyj slovar' živago velikorusskago jazyka [Толковый словарь живаго великорусскаго языка], 2nd ed., 4 vols., Sankt-Peterburg / Moskva: M. O. Vol'f, p. s.v. план
  11. ^ a b c Tameryan, T. Yu., Istoriko-ètimologičeskij slovar' latinskix zaimstvovanij [Историко-этимологический словарь латинских заимствований], Vladikavkaz (electronic edition 2015), p. s.v. план
  12. ^ a b Ushakov, D. N. (ed.) (1935–1940), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4 vols., Moskva: Sovetskaja ènciklopedija / OGIZ, p. s.v. план
  13. ^ a b Filin, F. P.; Sorokoletov, F. P.; Myznikov, S. A. (eds.) (1965–), Slovar' russkix narodnyx govorov [Словарь русских народных говоров], vols. 1–51, Moskva / Leningrad / Sankt-Peterburg: Nauka, p. 27, 79
  14. ^ a b c d Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. план
  15. ^ a b Evgen'eva, A. P. (ed.) (1981–1984), Slovar' russkogo jazyka v četyrex tomax [Словарь русского языка в 4 тт.] (MAS), 2nd ed., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. s.v. план
  16. ^ Efremova, T. F. (2000), Novyj slovar' russkogo jazyka. Tolkovo-slovoobrazovatel'nyj [Новый словарь русского языка. Толково-словообразовательный], 2 vols., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. s.v. план
  17. ^ a b Elistratov, V. S. (2000), Slovar' russkogo argo [Словарь русского арго], Moskva: Russkie slovari, p. s.v. план

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“План.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/ru/%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BD. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

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