plaque

[ plak ]

noun

1. a thin, flat plate or tablet of metal, porcelain, etc., intended for ornament, as on a wall, or set in a piece of furniture.
2. an inscribed commemorative tablet, usually of metal placed on a building, monument, or the like.
3. a platelike brooch or ornament, especially one worn as the badge of an honorary order.
4. Anatomy, Pathology. a flat, often raised, patch on the skin or other organ, as on the inner lining of arterial walls in atherosclerosis.
5. Dentistry. a soft, sticky, whitish matlike film attached to tooth surfaces, formed largely by the growth of bacteria that colonize the teeth.
6. Bacteriology. a cleared region in a bacterial culture, resulting from lysis of bacteria by bacteriophages.

plaque

/ plæk; plɑːk /

noun

1. an ornamental or commemorative inscribed tablet or plate of porcelain, wood, etc
2. a small flat brooch or badge, as of a club, etc
3. pathol any small abnormal patch on or within the body, such as the typical lesion of psoriasis
4. short for dental plaque
5. bacteriol a clear area within a bacterial or tissue culture caused by localized destruction of the cells by a bacteriophage or other virus

plaque

/ plăk /

1. A small disk-shaped formation or growth; a patch.
2. A film of mucus and bacteria on the surface of the teeth.
3. A deposit of material in a bodily tissue or organ, especially one of the fatty deposits that collect on the inner lining of an artery wall in atherosclerosis or one of the amyloid deposits that accumulate in the brain in Alzheimer's disease.

plaque

1. A thin film composed of bacteria , mucus , and food particles that forms on the surfaces of teeth . Plaque contributes to tooth decay and gum disease. Plaque also refers to a combination of cholesterol and lipids that can accumulate on the inside of arteries , causing atherosclerosis .

Word History and Origins

Origin of plaque¹

1840–50; < French, noun derivative of plaquer to plate < Middle Dutch placken to patch; placket

Word History and Origins

Origin of plaque¹

C19: from French, from plaquier to plate, from Middle Dutch placken to beat (metal) into a thin plate

Example Sentences

For decades, it lay in an unmarked grave in the UN cemetery in Busan, on Korea’s south coast, adorned with the plaque ‘Member of the British Army, known unto God’.

From BBC

But if the park survives in some form after his death, perhaps through a successor with a similarly high tolerance for debt, he would like a small plaque with his name in the front — “a small piece of evidence that I lived here on this earth.”

From Los Angeles Times

Hidden away in a church in Hamburg is a plaque dedicated to a relatively unknown Welsh woman, outlining astonishing acts of bravery.

From BBC

The plaque says the St Thomas à Becket Anglican Church, known as simply "the English church" for many years, would have been destroyed without her - after she hid its artwork to save it from damage, smothered fires as they started.

From BBC

If you weren’t aware that Kesluk comes to the bar often, the metal plaque in the bar in front of his seat that’s inscribed with his name lets you know.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• badge
• decoration
• medal
• nameplate
• plate
• slab