Plain

How to spell plain

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce plain

What does plain mean?

1. adjectiveSimple and without decoration, or easy to understand and obvious.
2. nounA large area of flat, open country with few trees.

Plain in a sentence

• adjective

  She ordered a plain omelette with no filling.

• noun

  The herd grazed across the wide plain below the hills.

• adjective

  The instructions were written in plain language anyone could follow.

• noun

  A dusty road stretched east over the dry plain.

Where does plain come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word arrived in English in the 1200s from Old French plain, which came directly from the Latin adjective planus, meaning 'flat, level, even'. From that core idea of a smooth, unbroken surface, the meanings branched in two directions: a flat stretch of open country (the noun) and the figurative senses of being clear, evident, and without decoration (the adjective), since something flat and even is easy to read and free of fuss. The very same Latin planus also gives us 'plane' for a flat geometric surface and 'plain' for level ground, which is exactly why the two spellings are so easily muddled. English settled the spelling 'plain' for the ordinary, unadorned senses and reserved 'plane' for the flat-surface, aircraft, and tree-name senses. The Spanish word 'llano' and the Italian 'piano' (as in soft, level playing) share this same flat-and-even ancestor.

How the word is built

• plain (from Latin planus: flat, level, even)

Words that sound like plain

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• plane: A powered flying vehicle with wings; an aeroplane or airplane.