plat
n. countablen. a map or plan that shows how a piece of land is divided into smaller parts. It is often used by builders or the government to show where houses or roads will go.
n. a plan, map, or chart of a piece of land showing its actual or proposed subdivisions. Often used in legal or urban planning contexts to document property boundaries.
The developer showed us the plat for the new neighborhood.
Before any construction could begin, the city council had to approve the final plat for the residential subdivision.
The county archives contain the original plat of the township, detailing the historical boundaries of the agricultural lots before the mid-century expansion of the suburbs.
The noun is derived from Middle English plat, platte (“flat part of a sword; flat piece of ground, plot of ground”), probably a variant of Middle English plot, (modern English plot) and influenced by Middle English plat, plate (modern English plate) and Anglo-Norman, Middle French and Old French plat. See platy-, plaice, flat. The verb is derived from the noun.
The noun is a variant of plait. The verb is from Middle English platte, English plat, respectively archaic past and past participle forms of English pleat (a variant of plait), Middle English platten (“to braid, weave; plait; to fold”).
From Middle English plat, plate, platte (“flat; smooth; blunt, plain”), from Anglo-Norman, Middle French, and Old French plat (“(adjective) flat, level; calm; blunt, plain; (adverb) in a flat position; directly, straight; bluntly, plainly”), from Vulgar Latin plattus (“flat; smooth”); further etymology uncertain, but possibly from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “flat; wide”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European pleth₂- (“flat”). The English word is cognate with French plat, Italian piatto, Middle Dutch plat (modern Dutch plat (“flat”)), Middle High German blat, plat, Middle Low German plat (modern German platt (“flat”)), Old Danish plat (modern Danish plat), Old Occitan plat (modern Occitan plat), Old Swedish plat (modern Swedish platt); and is a doublet of flat and pleyt.
Clipping of platform.
Commonly used in North American legal and real estate contexts; often appears in the phrase 'plat map'.