plaque

CEFRC1

/plæk/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A flat sign or plate fixed to a wall.

  2. 02

    noun

    A layer of harmful material that builds up on teeth or in arteries.

Examples

  • I think I have a lot of plaque build up.

  • The Queen unveiled a plaque to mark the official opening of the hospital.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
2

Also pronounced

  • [pʰl̥æk]
  • /plaːk/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A piece of flat metal with writing on it, attached to a building, monument, or other structure to remind people of a person or an event.

  2. A small card representing an amount of money, used for betting in casinos; a sort of gaming chip.

  3. Any flat, thin piece of clay, ivory, metal, etc., used for ornament, or for painting pictures upon, as a dish, plate, slab, etc., hung upon a wall; also, a smaller decoration worn by a person, such as a brooch.

More examples

In context

  • The plaque has to be removed.

  • aconcussion plaques

  • amyloid plaque

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The dentist used a tool to scrape the hard yellow blank from my teeth.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Unadapted borrowing from French plaque (“plate, sheet (of metal); slab (of marble); bacteria on teeth”), from French plaquer, Middle French plaquer (“to plate”), from Middle Dutch placken (“to patch, beat metal into a thin plate”), from placke (“disk, patch, stain”), from Old Dutch *plagga (“patch”), from Proto-Germanic *plaggą (“patch”). The word is cognate with Middle Low German placke, plagge (“small stain, scraps, rags, thin grass”), German Placken (“spot, patch”), Saterland Frisian plak, plakke (“a blow, slap”), Swedish plagg (“clothing, garment”). Compare plack.