different between layer vs plait

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /l??/, (spelling pronunciation) /le?.?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?le?.?/
• Rhymes: -??(?), -e??(?)
• Homophone: lair (one pronunciation)

Etymology 1

Appears at first glance to be from Middle English leyer, leyare (“a layer of stones or bricks”), equivalent to lay +? -er. In which case, ultimately identical to the other word below that is also spelt layer.

However, this word layer (referring to a thickness of a material covering a surface) has long been argued to be from a respelling of an obsolete sense of the word lair that was once used by farmers, which had to do with soil. The connecting sense between the usual meaning of lair and the specialised farming meaning was: an area where cows typically rest, the ground being fertilised by their waste. Related to lie, ledger.

Noun

layer (plural layers)

1. A single thickness of some material covering a surface.

   Wrap the loaf in two layers of aluminum foil before putting it in the oven.

   After the first coat of paint dried, he applied another layer.

   1. An item of clothing worn under or over another.

      It's cold now but it will warm up this afternoon. Make sure you wear layers.

2. A (usually) horizontal deposit; a stratum.

   I find seven-layer cake a bit too rich.

3. One of the items in a hierarchy.

   mired in layers of deceit

   • 2001, C/C++ Users Journal (volume 19, page 38)

     Right above the database access layer sits a number cruncher that performs any calculations that a particular request may require, such as computing a standard deviation. In many cases, this layer just forwards raw numbers.

4. (computer graphics, by analogy to a stack of transparencies) one in a stack of (initially transparent) drawing surfaces that comprise an image; used to keep elements of an image separate so that they can be modified independently from one another.

Synonyms

• (single thickness): lay (obsolete)
• (stratum): stratum

Derived terms

• boundary layer
• orchestration layer
• ozone layer

Translations

Verb

layer (third-person singular simple present layers, present participle layering, simple past and past participle layered)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To cut or divide into layers.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To arrange in layers.

   Layer the ribbons on top of one another to make an attractive pattern.

Translations

Etymology 2

lay +? -er

Noun

layer (plural layers)

1. A person who lays anything, such as tiles or a wager.
   • 1890, The Argosy (volume 49, page 183)

     If fortune ever favoured any venturesome layer of bets, Tom Elliot was certainly the one that day.

2. A mature female bird, insect, etc. that is able to lay eggs.

   When dealing with an infestation of headlice, the first step is to eliminate the layers.

3. A hen kept to lay eggs.
4. A shoot of a plant, laid underground for growth.

Translations

Derived terms

• minelayer
• tracklayer

Further reading

• layer in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• layer in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Arely, Arley, Early, Leary, Raley, Rayle, early, leary, re-lay, relay

English

Etymology

From Middle English pleit, from Anglo-Norman pleit (compare Old French ploit), from Latin plect?, which is akin to Old Norse flétta (Danish flette) and to Russian ???????? (spletat?). Doublet of plight (“plait, fold”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ple?t/, /plæt/
• Homophones: plate, plat
• Rhymes: -æt
• Rhymes: -e?t

Noun

plait (plural plaits)

1. A flat fold; a doubling, as of cloth; a pleat.

   • the plaits and foldings of the drapery

2. A braid, as of hair or straw; a plat.

Related terms

• pleat

Translations

Further reading

• Plait in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Verb

plait (third-person singular simple present plaits, present participle plaiting, simple past and past participle plaited)

1. (transitive) To fold; to double in narrow folds; to pleat

2. (transitive) To interweave the strands or locks of; to braid

Translations

Anagrams

• Patil, Pilat, lapti

French

Verb

plait

1. Post-1990 spelling of plaît (third-person singular present indicative of plaire)

Anagrams

• pilât, pliât

Middle English

Etymology

From Old French plait, plet.

Noun

plait (plural plaits)

1. Alternative form of ple

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin placitum (“decree”).

Noun

plait m (oblique plural plaiz or plaitz, nominative singular plaiz or plaitz, nominative plural plait)

1. agreement
2. argument; dispute
3. court (of law)
4. plea; ask; demand

Related terms

• plaidier

Descendants

• ? Middle English: plait
  • English: plea
  • Scots: plaid

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (plait)
• plai on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub