flat

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: B1 — Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a level tract of land
  2. noun a shallow box in which seedlings are started
  3. noun a musical notation indicating one half step lower than the note named

Etymology

From Middle English flat, a borrowing from Old Norse flatr (compare Norwegian and Swedish flat, Danish flad), from Proto-Germanic *flataz, from Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“flat”); akin to Saterland Frisian flot (“smooth”), German Flöz (“a geological layer”), Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús), Latvian plats, Sanskrit प्रथस् (prathas, “extension”). Doublet of plat and pleyt. The noun is from Middle English flat (“level piece of ground, flat edge of a weapon”), from the adjective. The algebraic sense was coined by Serre in a 1956 paper, originally as French plat.

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