A compound of flat + lay
Proto-Germanic *flataz ‘flat’
Old Norse flatr ‘flat, level’
Middle English flat ‘level’
English flat
Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- ‘to lie’
…
Proto-Germanic *lagjaną ‘to lay’
Proto-West Germanic *laggjan ‘to lay’
Old English leċġan ‘to lay’
Middle English leyen ‘to lay’
English lay
Today it means
noun A kind of photograph where objects are laid out on a flat surface and photographed perpendicularly from above.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / flatlay
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