plaice
UK[pleɪs]US[pleɪs]
n
A European flatfish with a brown skin and orange spots, living on the seabed and caught for food.
Etymology
The word 'plaice' entered English in the late 13th century from the Old French 'plaïs', which itself derived from the Late Latin 'platessa', meaning 'flatfish'. This Latin term is believed to originate from the Ancient Greek 'platys', meaning 'broad' or 'flat', a direct reference to the fish's distinctive body shape. The journey from Greek 'platys' to the modern 'plaice' illustrates a common pattern where a descriptive physical characteristic becomes the name for the entire creature. Over centuries, the phonetic form evolved through Latin and French before stabilizing in English, retaining its core association with flatness.
Analysis
The word 'plaice' is a simplex loanword from Old French. It does not contain separable morphemes in modern English.
Examples
The fisherman caught a large plaice in the North Sea.
Grilled plaice with lemon and herbs is a simple, delicious dish.
You can distinguish a plaice from other flatfish by the distinctive orange spots on its skin.