plait

American  

[playt, plat] / pleɪt, plæt /

noun

• plaits
  plural

1. a braid, especially of hair or straw.

2. a pleat or fold, as of cloth.

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verb (used with object)

• plaits,
  present (3rd person singular)
• plaited,
  past participle,  past
• plaiting
  present participle

1. to braid, as hair or straw.

2. to make, as a mat, by braiding.

3. to pleat.

plait British  

/ plæt /

noun

1. a length of hair, ribbon, etc, that has been plaited

2. (in Britain) a loaf of bread of several twisting or intertwining parts

3. a rare spelling of pleat

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verb

1. (tr) to intertwine (strands or strips) in a pattern

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• interplait
  verb (used with object)

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• plaits
  plural

Participles

• plaiting
  present
• plaited
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• plait
  simple
• plaits
  simple
• have plaited
  perfect
• has plaited
  perfect
• am plaiting
  progressive
• are plaiting
  progressive
• is plaiting
  progressive
• have been plaiting
  perfect progressive
• has been plaiting
  perfect progressive

Past

• plaited
  simple
• had plaited
  perfect
• was plaiting
  progressive
• were plaiting
  progressive
• had been plaiting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will plait
  simple
• will have plaited
  perfect
• will be plaiting
  progressive
• will have been plaiting
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of plait

1350–1400; Middle English pleyt < Middle French pleit < Latin plicitum, neuter of plicitus, past participle of plicāre to fold; see ply ²

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Explanation

You might get an odd look if you ask your hairdresser to put your hair in a plait, but she’ll eventually figure out what you want: a braid. Plait, which sounds the same as plate, feels a bit like it’s from a bygone era, though the word is still in use today. A woman wearing a hairstyle with plaits might be on her way to meet Lord Something-or-Other, in the hopes of receiving a marriage proposal. Meanwhile, someone wearing a braided hairdo might be preparing for a night on the town or just a trip to the grocery store.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

plait plaits plaited plaiting

For the unaware, that classic acronym comes from the French phrase Répondez s'il vous plait.

From Salon ● Nov. 22, 2023

The male representative of this species proudly sports a pork pie straw hat, half Panama and half boater, so obviously transatlantic that every plait in it gives forth a twang.

From Washington Post ● May 2, 2023

Assembling a loaf of challah, the briochelike Jewish bread coated with a soft brown egg wash and braided in a classic plait, is another undertaking entirely.

From New York Times ● Dec. 1, 2021

"That woman with the tightly curled blond plait," you may be thinking to yourself.

From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2019

“Do you know,” she said, “it took me so long to plait this hair? She had such thick hair.”

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Bell is living up to the potential that she promised as a tall, ambitious teenager, boasting those trademark plaits and an infectious love of the game.

From BBC ● Mar. 20, 2024

Education Minister Nyan Gadsby Dolly called for new rules that would allow students to wear Afros, locks, twists, plaits and cornrows, which are called canerows in the Caribbean in reference to sugarcane.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 7, 2023

Her mother then plaits her thick hair into two Dutch braids that fit under her helmet for the show ring.

From New York Times ● Mar. 3, 2023

And at least two of the witnesses testified that one of the shooters had shoulder length locs or plaits, a hairstyle that McDaniel has but neither Moses nor Mayfield had, according to court testimony.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 9, 2022

Almost a week ago, Mama put it into two practical plaits down my back, but they’re getting frizzy at the edges.

From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray

Elsewhere in Haute Couture Week, Puerto Rican music star Bad Bunny sat front row for the Schiaparelli show in a pastel yellow-coloured suit and a tie of plaited golden strands.

From Barron's ● Jul. 6, 2026

The young millennial rocked different hairstyles and loved switching it up: a curly Afro one week, two-strand twists the next, micro plaited braids and a range of cornrow designs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2024

This week, the bakers are instructed to make a plaited bread centerpiece.

From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2023

Known for her amusing scripts and plaited hairstyles, Jocelyn Bioh can count only three times when she was without braids.

From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2023

Her long frizzy hair was damp and hung loose down her back, plaited only at the very end.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

It takes a willingness to understand and honor the hairstyle's origins and what that plaiting symbolizes to accept that not everybody should flaunt it.

From Salon ● May 2, 2025

“It is less risky if we go as a group,” she said while plaiting her friend’s hair.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 9, 2022

John Frieda Frizz Ease Clearly Defined Gel was Aspiras' go-to while plaiting the two side braids, which he secured with clear elastics.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2018

In the Beginning Was the End looks at scientific invention, at hydraulics and new technology in characteristic dreamthinkspeak style, plaiting together old and new procedures, the virtual and the fleshy, the large-scale and the miniature.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 10, 2013

Women and children worked in the neighboring sheds, twisting hair, weaving hair, plaiting hair with thread.

From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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