Plot

How to spell plot

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce plot

What does plot mean?

1. nounThe sequence of connected events that makes up a story, novel, film, or play.
2. nounA small marked-out area of ground, often for building or growing.
3. nounA secret plan to do something illegal or harmful.
4. verbTo plan something secretly, or to mark points or a route on a chart or graph.

Plot in a sentence

• noun

  The plot of the novel twists in the final chapter.

• noun

  They bought a small plot on the edge of the village to build a house.

• noun

  Police uncovered a plot to rob the armoured van.

• verb

  The engineers will plot the new data points on the graph.

• noun

  Critics praised the acting but found the plot confusing.

• noun

  Each gardener was assigned a plot for growing vegetables.

Where does plot come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Plot comes from the Old English word 'plot', which originally meant a small patch or piece of ground, as in a marked-out area of land. For centuries it carried only this earthly, agricultural sense, the kind of plot where crops or graves might lie. During the late 1500s the meaning began to branch in two surprising directions: it came to mean a secret scheme or conspiracy, and slightly later the planned outline of a story or play. This shift was helped along by the closely related French word 'complot', meaning a joint conspiracy, which blurred into the native English form. Because the word stayed short and unchanged, its spelling never developed any traps, even as its meanings multiplied from a humble field into intrigue and storytelling.

How the word is built

• plot (single root; Old English meaning a small piece of ground, later extended to a secret scheme and a story outline)