English
ply
Ply comes from Middle English pleit, and goes back to Anglo-Norman pli.
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400pli
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pleit
- Englishearliest quotation 1749ply
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400pli
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pleit
- Englishearliest quotation 1749ply
Earliest quotation: 1749, John Cleland, (Please specify the letter or volume): “You may be ſure, in the ply I was…”
Linked words
through Middle English pleit
Another origin of ply
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-‘to plait, to weave’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicoas plicāre‘to fold’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400ploiier‘to fold’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400plier
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500plīen
- Englishtodayply
The word is cognate with Catalan plegar (‘to bend, fold’), Italian piegare (‘to bend, fold, fold up’), Old Occitan plegar, plejar, pleyar (‘to fold’) (modern Occitan plegar), Spanish plegar (‘to fold’).
Today it means
noun A layer of material.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Anglo-Norman pli / ply