plateau

See also: Plateau

English

Diagram showing plateaus.

Etymology

Borrowed from French plateau, diminutive of plat (“a plate”); see plate. Doublet of platter.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈplætəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /plæˈtoʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophones: plateaux
• Rhymes: -əʊ

Noun

plateau (plural plateaus or plateaux)

1. A largely level expanse of land at a high elevation; tableland.
2. A comparatively stable level after a period of increase. (of a varying quantity)
   • 2008 May 28, Tara Parker-Pope, “Hint of Hope as Child Obesity Rate Hits Plateau”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     Childhood obesity, rising for more than two decades, appears to have hit a plateau, a potentially significant milestone in the battle against excessive weight gain among children.

3. (dated) An ornamental dish for the table; a tray or salver.
4. (sports, broadcasting) A notable level of attainment or achievement.
5. (drug slang) Any of several distinct, dose-dependent stages of a dextromethorphan trip.

Derived terms

• Colorado Plateau
• Iranian Plateau
• Loess Plateau
• Mexican Plateau
• plateau basalt
• plateau effect
• Tibetan Plateau

 

Translations

high, level expanse

Albanian: pllaja Arabic: هَضْبَة (ar) f (haḍba) Gulf Arabic: هَضَبة f (haḏ̣aba) Armenian: բարձրավանդակ (hy) (barjravandak), սարահարթ (hy) (sarahartʻ) Azerbaijani: yayla Basque: goi-ordoki Belarusian: плато́ n (plató) Bhojpuri: पठार (paṭhār) Bulgarian: плато n (plato) Burmese: please add this translation if you can Catalan: altiplà (ca) m, planell m Cebuano: patag ibabaw sa bukid Chinese: Mandarin: 高原 (zh) (gāoyuán) Czech: náhorní plošina f Danish: plateau (da) n, højslette (da) c Dutch: hoogvlakte (nl) f, plateau (nl) n Esperanto: altebenaĵo Estonian: lavamaa Finnish: ylätasanko, ylänkö (fi) French: plateau (fr) m Galician: chan (gl) m Georgian: ზეგანი (zegani) German: Hochebene (de) f, Plateau (de) n Greek: οροπέδιο (el) n (oropédio) Hebrew: רָמָה (he) f (ramá) Hiligaynon: mataas nga patag Hindi: पठार (hi) m (paṭhār), अधित्यका (hi) (adhityakā) Hungarian: fennsík (hu), felföld (hu) Ibanag: atannang nga tanà Iloco: banak, nangato a tanap Indonesian: plato (id), dataran tinggi (id) Irish: ardchlár m Italian: altopiano (it) m, Japanese: 高原 (ja) (こうげん, kōgen) Kannada: ಪ್ರಸ್ಥಭೂಮಿ (kn) (prasthabhūmi) Khmer: ខ្ពង់រាប (km) (khpŭəngriəp) Korean: 고원(高原) (ko) (gowon) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: بان (ban) Northern Kurdish: zozan (ku) pl Lao: ພູພຽງ (phuphiang) Latin: planus m, platus m Latvian: plakankalne f, plato m Lithuanian: plynaukštė (lt) f Malay: penara, dataran tinggi, plato Manx: ard-chlaare m Maori: mānia pūwhata Mongolian: өндөрлөг (mn) (öndörlög) Norwegian: Bokmål: platå n, høyslette (no) m or f Nynorsk: platå n, høgslette f Pangasinan: atagey a patar, atagey a palatas Persian: فلات (fa) (falât) Polish: plateau (pl) n, płaskowyż (pl) m Portuguese: planalto (pt) m, platô (pt) m, altiplano (pt) m Romanian: platou (ro) n, podiș (ro) n Russian: плато́ (ru) n (plató), плоского́рье (ru) n (ploskogórʹje) Serbo-Croatian: visija f, visoravan (sh) f, zaravan (sh) f Slovak: náhorná rovina f, náhorná plošina f Slovene: planota (sl) f Spanish: meseta (es) f, altiplano (es) m, altiplanicie f, altipampa f Swedish: platå (sv) c Tagalog: talampas, pantayanin Thai: ที่ราบสูง (th) (tîi-râap-sǔung) Tibetan: ས་མཐོའི་ཐང་ཆེན (sa mtho'i thang chen), མཐོ་སྒང (mtho sgang) Turkish: plato (tr), yayla (tr) Ukrainian: плато́ n (plató) Vietnamese: cao nguyên (vi) (高原) Welsh: llwyfandir m Zazaki: plato

stable, high level

Bulgarian: плато n (plato) Catalan: replà m Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Esperanto: (please verify) plataĵo Finnish: vakiintunut taso German: Plateau (de) n Hindi: स्थिरांक m (sthirāṅk), सबात (hi) f (sabāt) Hungarian: stagnálás (hu), plató (hu), tetőzés (hu) Irish: léibheann m Italian: plateau (it) m Persian: ثبات (fa) (sabât) Russian: please add this translation if you can Slovak: plató Waray: umpas Welsh: man gwastad m, gwastadedd (cy) m Zazaki: deşt

ornamental dish

Catalan: plat (ca) m Dutch: schaal (nl) f, plateau (nl) n

Verb

plateau (third-person singular simple present plateaus, present participle plateauing, simple past and past participle plateaued)

1. (intransitive) (of a varying quantity) To reach a stable level after a period of increase; to level off.

Translations

level off

Catalan: estancar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 持平 (zh) (chípíng) Dutch: stagneren (nl), stabiliseren (nl) Finnish: tasaantua, tasoittua French: stagner (fr), plafonner (fr), se stabiliser (fr), atteindre (fr) un plateau (fr) Hungarian: stagnál (hu), platózik Portuguese: estagnar (pt) Russian: please add this translation if you can Spanish: estancarse (es)

Further reading

• plateau on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from French plateau, diminutive of plat (“a plate”); see English plate.

Noun

plateau n (singular definite plateauet, plural indefinite plateauer)

1. plateau (level expanse of land)

   Synonym: højslette

References

• “plateau” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French plateau, diminutive of plat (“a plate”); see English plate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plaːˈtoː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pla‧teau
• Rhymes: -oː

Noun

plateau n (plural plateaus, diminutive plateautje n)

1. plateau (level expanse of land)

   Synonym: hoogvlakte

2. plateau (comparatively stable level)
3. plateau (tray) (Southern)

Derived terms

• ijsplateau
• plateauzool

French

French Wikipedia has an article on:

plateau

Wikipedia ^fr

Etymology

From plat +‎ -eau.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pla.to/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

plateau m (plural plateaux)

1. flat area
2. tray
3. (geography) plateau
4. stage (in theatre); set (of television broadcast)
5. (cycling) chainring

Derived terms

• camion plateau
• plateau de tournage
• sur un plateau
• sur un plateau d’argent

Descendants

• → Catalan: plató
• → Danish: plateau
• → Dutch: plateau
• → English: plateau
• → German: Plateau
• → Greek: πλατό (plató)
• → Norwegian Bokmål: platå
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: platå
• → Portuguese: platô
• → Romanian: platou
• → Russian: плато́ (plató)
  • → Ukrainian: плато́ (plató)
• → Spanish: plató
• → Swedish: platå
• → Turkish: plato

Further reading

• “plateau”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• épaulât