Plaster

How to spell plaster

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce plaster

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does plaster mean?

1. nounA soft mixture of lime or gypsum and water that is spread on walls and ceilings and dries to a smooth, hard surface.
2. nounA small adhesive strip with a pad, applied to cover and protect a minor cut or graze.
3. verbTo cover a surface thickly or completely with something.

Plaster in a sentence

• noun

  The builder smoothed a layer of plaster over the brickwork.

• noun

  She peeled a plaster from the box and pressed it over the cut on her finger.

• verb

  The campaign team will plaster the town with posters before the vote.

• noun

  Cracks in the old ceiling let the plaster crumble onto the carpet.

• noun

  The first aid kit was out of plaster after the long hike.

• verb

  Heavy rain can plaster the windscreen with mud from the road.

Where does plaster come from?

Language of origin: Greek

Plaster traces back to the Greek emplastron, a word for a medicinal salve or paste that was daubed onto the skin. That noun grew from the verb emplassein, 'to smear or daub on', built from en- meaning 'in' or 'on' and plassein meaning 'to mould or form', the same root that gives us 'plastic' and 'plasma'. Latin took it as emplastrum, and the clipped form passed into late Old English and then back through Old French as 'plaster', covering both the medical sense of a dressing and the building sense of a wall coating. The two meanings stayed side by side because each involves a soft material spread over a surface to set hard. The single 's' and the '-er' ending catch some writers, who may reach for a doubled letter that the word never had.

How the word is built

• plaster (from Latin emplastrum, ultimately Greek emplastron: a daub or salve); root plassein 'to mould, form'