# plaid
## English
### Etymology 1

From Scots plaid, of uncertain origin; perhaps from a past participle form of ply. Scottish Gaelic plaide (“blanket”) is probably a borrowing from Scots.
Also compare Scottish Gaelic peall (“covering, veil, blanket”) << Latin pellis (“hide, covering”), but the OED finds the sound changes problematic.

#### Pronunciation

* (Scotland) IPA: /pled/, /plad/
* (UK, Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /plæd/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -æd

#### Noun

plaid (countable and uncountable, plural plaids)
* (textiles) A type of twilled woollen cloth, often with a tartan or chequered pattern. [from 16thc.]
** 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 01:It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. He wore shepherd's plaid trousers and the swallow-tail coat of the day, with a figured muslin cravat wound about his wide-spread collar.
* A length of such material used as a piece of clothing, formerly worn in the Scottish Highlands and other parts of northern Britain and remaining as an item of ceremonial dress worn by members of Scottish pipe bands. [from 16thc.]
** 2009, John Sadler, Glencoe, Amberley, published 2009, page 47:In battle, the plaid was customarily shrugged off before the charge bit home, and the warrior came into contact with only his long, saffron shirt (‘leine chrochach’) to preserve modesty.
* The typical chequered pattern of a plaid; tartan. [from 19thc.]

##### Derived terms

* belted plaid
* glen plaid
* Scotch plaid

##### Translations
#### Adjective

plaid (comparative more plaid, superlative most plaid)
* Having a pattern or colors which resemble a Scottish tartan; checkered or marked with bars or stripes at right angles to one another.

### Etymology 2

Alternative forms.

#### Verb

plaid
* (archaic) simple past and past participle of play
** 1774, Dr Samuel Johnson, Preface to the Works of the English Poets, J. Nichols, Volume II, Page 134,
    "...then plaid on the organ, and sung..."

### References

* ↑ Dictionary of the Scots Language
* ↑ James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Plaid”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC.

## French
### Etymology 1

From Old French plait, from Latin placitum.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /plɛ/
* Homophones: plaids, plaie, plaies, plais, plaît

#### Noun

plaid m (plural plaids)
* (history) placitum (kind of medieval council)

### Etymology 2

From English plaid.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /plɛd/
* Audio:(file)
* Homophones: plaids, plaide, plaident, plaides

#### Noun

plaid m (plural plaids)
* plaid
* small blanket to sit on or to warm one’s legs

### Further reading

* “plaid”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Italian
### Etymology

Borrowed from English plaid.

### Noun

plaid m (invariable)
* tartan rug (especially one used when travelling/traveling)

## Middle English
### Etymology

From Old French plait, plaid.

### Noun

plaid
* Alternative form of ple

## Old French
### Noun

plaid oblique singular, m (oblique plural plaiz or plaitz, nominative singular plaiz or plaitz, nominative plural plaid)
* Alternative form of plait

## Romansch
### Alternative forms

* pled (Rumantsch Grischun, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter, Vallader)

### Noun

plaid m (plural plaids)
* (Sursilvan) word

#### Related terms

* pledari

## Scots
### Etymology

Uncertain; perhaps from a past participle form of ply.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pled/

### Noun

plaid (plural plaids)
* plaid

## Welsh
### Etymology

The original meaning was “row”, “rank”, later “partition”, possibly related to Irish pluid and Scottish Gaelic plaide (“blanket”); as Proto-Celtic had no /p/, the term is likely a borrowing, such as English and Scots plaid. However, the semantic development is unclear.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /plai̯d/
* Rhymes: -ai̯d

### Noun

plaid f (plural pleidiau)
* (politics) a (political) party
    Plaid Cymrulit Party of Wales

#### Derived terms

* o blaid (“in favour (of)”)
* pleidiol (“partial, partisan”)
* pleidiwr (“party member”)

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

### References

* ↑ R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “plaid”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
* ↑ Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1882) Etymological and Pronouncing Dictionary of Difficult Words‎, New York: Ward, Lock, & Co., page 862