plan

English Online Dictionary. What means plan‎? What does plan mean?

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French plan (“a ground-plot of a building”), from plan (“flat”), a later form of the vernacular plain, from Latin planus (“flat, plane”); see plain, plane.

Pronunciation

• enPR: plăn, IPA^(key): /plæn/
• (US regional) IPA^(key): [plɛən]
• Rhymes: -æn

Noun

plan (plural plans)

2. A drawing showing technical details of a building, machine, etc., with unwanted details omitted, and often using symbols rather than detailed drawing to represent doors, valves, etc.

   Synonyms: design, scheme; see also Thesaurus:diagram

4. A set of intended actions, usually mutually related, through which one expects to achieve a goal.

   Synonyms: design, scheme; see also Thesaurus:design
6. A two-dimensional drawing of a building as seen from above with obscuring or irrelevant details such as roof removed, or of a floor of a building, revealing the internal layout; as distinct from the elevation.

   Synonym: floor plan

8. A method; a way of procedure; a custom.
10. A subscription to a service.

Usage notes

• A plan ("set of intended actions") can be developed, executed, implemented, ignored, abandoned, scrapped, changed, etc.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Japanese: プラン (puran)

Translations

Verb

plan (third-person singular simple present plans, present participle planning, simple past and past participle planned)

2. (transitive) To design (a building, machine, etc.).

4. (transitive) To create a plan for.

6. (intransitive) To intend.
8. (intransitive) To make a plan.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• “plan”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “plan”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Azerbaijani

Pronunciation

Noun

plan (definite accusative planı, plural planlar)

1. plan (set of intended actions), scheme

   beş illik planını üç il yarıma yerinə yetirmək ― to complete a five year plan in three and a half years

   bütün planlar pozuldu ― all plans were ruined

2. draft, plan, scheme, contrivance, road map
3. layout

   arxa plan ― background

   ön plan ― foreground

   bu gündəm arxa plana keçdi ― this agenda faded into the background

Declension

Derived terms

• planlaşdırmaq

Further reading

• “plan” in Obastan.com.

Chinese

Etymology

Borrowed from English plan.

Pronunciation

(Hong Kong Cantonese, alternative) IPA^(key): /pʰlɛːn⁵⁵/

Noun

plan

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) plan (a subscription to a service) (Classifier: 個／个 c)

   手機plan／手机plan [Hong Kong Cantonese]  ―  sau² gei¹ plan [Jyutping]  ―  (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Verb

plan

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to plan

Synonyms

• 計劃／计划 (jìhuà)

Danish

Etymology

From German Plan (“project, plan”), from French plan (“plan, map; plane”), from Latin plānus (“level, flat, even”), from plānus (“flat, even, level”), from Proto-Italic *plānos, from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-no-s (“flattened”), from *pleh₂- (“flat”).

Noun

plan c (singular definite planen, plural indefinite planer)

1. a plan
2. a level or plane

Declension

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plɑn/
• Hyphenation: plan
• Rhymes: -ɑn

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French plan, from Middle French plant.

Noun

plan n (plural plannen, diminutive plannetje n)

1. a set of intended actions, through which one expects to achieve a goal: plan, plot, scheme
2. a technical drawing
3. a detailed map of a relatively small area, such as a building or settlement

   Synonym: plattegrond

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Negerhollands: plan
• → Caribbean Javanese: plan
• → Indonesian: plan

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

plan

1. inflection of plannen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plɑ̃/
• Homophones: plans, plant, plants

Etymology 1

From earlier plant, derived from the verb planter, or from Latin planus. Doublet of plant or plain, depending on which etymology is right.

Noun

plan m (plural plans)

1. map (schematic maps of streets, subways, etc.)

   un plan du métro ― a subway map

2. plane (flat surface)

   un plan incliné ― an inclined plane

3. (geometry) plane
4. (film) shot
5. plan

   Synonym: projet

6. (slang) hookup (short for plan cul)
7. (slang) deal (short for bon plan)
8. (slang, dated) a small case inserted in the rectum in order to hide one's valuables from a full-body search

Derived terms

Descendants

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin plānus. Doublet of plain, which was inherited, and piano.

Adjective

plan (feminine plane, masculine plural plans, feminine plural planes)

1. planar

Derived terms

• lichen plan

Further reading

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

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin plānus.

Adjective

plan

1. flat, level, plane

Related terms

• planc

See also

• plac
• vualîf

Noun

plan m (plural plans)

1. plane
2. plan

German

Etymology

From Middle High German plān, from Latin plānus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plaːn/
• Rhymes: -aːn

Adjective

plan (strong nominative masculine singular planer, comparative planer, superlative am plansten)

1. (technical) planar, flat, level, smooth

   Synonym: eben

2. (archaic) plain, forthright

Declension

Derived terms

• planlegen
• Pläne

See also

• Plan

Further reading

• “plan” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “plan” in Duden online

Indonesian

Alternative forms

• pelan (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore)

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch plan, from French plan (“a ground-plot of a building”), from plan (“flat”), a later form of the vernacular plain, from Latin planus (“flat, plane”). Doublet of pelan.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈplan/ [ˈplan]
• Rhymes: -an
• Syllabification: plan

Noun

plan (uncountable)

1. plan, a set of intended actions, usually mutually related, through which one expects to achieve a goal

   Synonym: rencana

Further reading

• “plan” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Kashubian

Etymology

Borrowed from Polish plan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈplan/
• Rhymes: -an
• Syllabification: plan

Noun

plan m inan

1. plan (a set of intended actions, usually mutually related, through which one expects to achieve a goal)

Derived terms

Further reading

• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011) “plan”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎^[2], volume 2, page 425

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From German Plan (“project, plan”), from French plan (“plan, map; plane”).

Noun

plan m (definite singular planen, indefinite plural planer, definite plural planene)

1. a plan
2. a level or plane

Derived terms

References

• “plan” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plaːn/

Etymology 1

From German Plan, from Latin plānum.

Noun

plan n (definite singular planet, indefinite plural plan, definite plural plana)

1. plane
2. level

Derived terms

• planovergang

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

plan m (definite singular planen, indefinite plural planar, definite plural planane)

1. a plan

   Kva er planen din? ― What's your plan?

Derived terms

Etymology 3

From Latin planus.

Adjective

plan (neuter plant, definite singular and plural plane, comparative planare, indefinite superlative planast, definite superlative planaste)

1. plane, flat

References

• “plan” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Occitan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pla/

Noun

plan m (plural plans)

1. plan (a drawing showing technical details of a building)
2. plan (a set of intended actions)

Adjective

plan m (feminine singular plana, masculine plural plans, feminine plural planas)

1. flat

   Synonym: planièr

Adverb

plan

1. well

   Antonym: mal

2. very, quite

   Synonym: fòrça

   mercés plan ― thank you very much

Further reading

• Joan de Cantalausa (2006) Diccionari general occitan a partir dels parlars lengadocians‎^[3], 2 edition, →ISBN, page 754.

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from French plan. Sense 1 is a semantic loan from English plan and German Plan. First attested in the 19th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈplan/
• Rhymes: -an
• Syllabification: plan

Noun

plan m inan

2. plan (a set of intended actions, usually mutually related, through which one expects to achieve a goal) [with żeby (+ past-tense clause or infinitive) ‘to do what’]

   Synonym: zamysł

3. plan (series of actions to be performed in a particular order and at a particular time)

   Synonyms: program, rozkład

4. plan (design of a creation)

   Synonyms: szkic, zarys

5. plan (a drawing showing technical details of a building, machine, etc., with unwanted details omitted, and often using symbols rather than detailed drawing to represent doors, valves, etc)
6. plane (place of objects or people in a painting, drawing, theatrical stage or landscape, which is distinguished by the distance from the observer)
7. (film) shot (range of view of the camera, resulting from its distance from the object being filmed)
8. (film) location; set (place where a movie is filmed)
9. all elements of the content or form of a work that have been distinguished as a result of its analysis and contrasted with the others (Is there an English equivalent to this definition?)

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• → Kashubian: plan

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), plan is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 21 times in scientific texts, 81 times in news, 163 times in essays, 11 times in fiction, and 16 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 292 times, making it the 175th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.

References

Further reading

• plan in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• plan in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1908), “plan”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 4, Warsaw, page 220

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French plan, from Latin planus.

Noun

plan n (plural planuri)

1. plan
2. (geometry) plane

Declension

Adjective

plan m or n (feminine singular plană, masculine plural plani, feminine and neuter plural plane)

1. planar, flat

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Plan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plâːn/
• Rhymes: -âːn

Noun

plȃn m (Cyrillic spelling пла̑н)

1. plan

Declension

Silesian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Plan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈplan/
• Rhymes: -an
• Syllabification: plan

Noun

plan m inan

1. plan (a set of intended actions, usually mutually related, through which one expects to achieve a goal)

Further reading

• plan in silling.org

Spanish

Etymology

From plano.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈplan/ [ˈplãn]
• Rhymes: -an
• Syllabification: plan

Noun

plan m (plural planes)

1. plan
2. scheme (systematic plan of future action)

   Synonyms: régimen, sistema

3. intention

   Synonym: intensión

4. (colloquial) mood

   Synonym: ánimo

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• → Basque: plan

Further reading

• “plan”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plɑːn/
• Rhymes: -ɑːn

Adjective

plan (comparative planare, superlative planast)

1. plane (flat)

2. plane (level)

Declension

Noun

plan n

1. (mathematics) a plane; flat surface.
2. an airplane / aeroplane

   Synonym: flygplan

3. a plane; level of existence

   astralplan ― astral plane

Declension

Derived terms

Noun

plan c

1. a plan (planned actions)

2. a delimited, relatively level and flat area (like a delimited plane) (often used for sports, but also more general); a field, a rink, a yard, etc.

3. a plan (drawing outlining a building, apartment, or the like, often more or less map-like)

Declension

Derived terms

References

• plan in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• plan in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• plan in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Turkish

Alternative forms

• plân (superseded)

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish پلان (plân), from French plan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p(i)ˈlɑn/, [p(i).ˈlɑn̪]

Noun

plan (definite accusative planı, plural planlar)

1. plan

   plan yapmak ― to plan, to make a plan

Declension

Derived terms

• planlamak

References

• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “plan”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Avery, Robert et al., editors (2013), The Redhouse Dictionary Turkish/Ottoman English, 21st edition, Istanbul: Sev Yayıncılık, →ISBN

Volapük

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [plan]

Noun

plan (nominative plural plans)

1. plant (botany)

Declension

Derived terms

See also