plan

From French plan (“flat surface, ground plot, map”), from Latin plānus. Some sources also argue for influence or alteration of French plant, from plantar, from Latin plantāre (“set, fix in place”). Compare plane, plain.

• enPR: plăn, IPA^(key): /plæn/
• (æ-raising) IPA^(key): [plɛən]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æn

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

   The plans for many important buildings were once publicly available.

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

   Synonyms: design, scheme; see also Thesaurus:design

   He didn't really have a plan; he had a goal and a habit of control.

   • 1980, John Lennon, “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)”, in Double Fantasy:

     Life is what happens to you / While you're busy making other plans

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

   Seen in plan, the building had numerous passageways not apparent to visitors.

8. A method; a way of procedure; a custom.
   • 1815, William Wordsworth, Rob Roy's Grave:

     The simple plan, / That they should take who have the power, / And they should keep who can.

10. A subscription to a service.

    a phone plan

    an Internet plan

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

• → Hindi: pelan
• → Japanese: プラン (puran)
• → Malay: pelan
• → Thai: แปลน (bplɛɛn)

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

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

   The architect planned the building for the client.

4. (transitive) To create a plan for.

   They jointly planned the project in phases, with good detail for the first month.

6. (intransitive) To intend.

   He planned to go, but work intervened.

   • 2013 August 10, “Can China clean up fast enough?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

     It has jailed environmental activists and is planning to limit the power of judicial oversight by handing a state-approved body a monopoly over bringing environmental lawsuits.

8. (intransitive) To make a plan.

   They planned for the worst, bringing lots of emergency supplies.

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

• “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.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “plan”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “plan”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• “plan”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

• Audio:

  (file)

plan (definite accusative planı, plural planlar)

1. plan (set of intended actions), scheme

   Amma o ümidini itirmirdi, çünki artıq yeni möhtəşəm plan cızmışdı.

   But s/he didn't lose hope, because s/he had already come up with a new magnificent plan.

   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

• planlaşdırmaq

• “plan” in Obastan.com.

Borrowed from English plan.

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)

plan

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to plan

• 計劃／计划 (jìhuà)

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”).

3=erne

plan c (singular definite planen, plural indefinite planer)

1. a plan
2. a level or plane

• Audio:

  (file)

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

Borrowed from French plan, from Middle French plant.

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

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

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

plan

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

• IPA^(key): /plɑ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

• Homophones: plans, plant, plants

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

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

   Quels sont tes plans pour cet été?

   What are your plans for this summer?

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

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

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

1. planar

• lichen plan

• “plan”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012
• Auguste Brachet and Jean Jacques (1873), “Plan”, in An etymological dictionary of the French language‎^[3]

From Latin plānus.

plan

1. flat, level, plane

• planc

• plac
• vualîf

plan m (plural plans)

1. plane
2. plan

From Middle High German plān, from Latin plānus.

• IPA^(key): /plaːn/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːn

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

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

   Synonym: eben

2. (archaic) plain, forthright
   • 1887, Otto Gradenwitz, Die Ungültigkeit obligatorischer Rechtsgeschäfte, Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, page 108:

     [Zur Auslegung von Dig. 16, 1, 8, 2] Ferner muss man wohl sagen, dass eine so plane Wahrheit, wie die, dass im Falle des Betruges keine Intercession vorliege, nicht erst von Marcellus entdeckt worden sein kann, und dass daher nicht erst Marcellus in seinen Noten den Julianus dahin zu corrigiren brauchte; dass die Betrügerin nicht intercedirt hat, das wusste auch Julianus!

     [Regarding the interpretation of Dig. 16, 1, 8, 2] One must say furthermore fittingly that such a plain truth like that in the case of fraud there is no intercession cannot have been discovered only by Marcellus, and that hence Marcellus did not have to correct Julianus in his notes; that the fraudstress has not interceded, this was already known to Julianus!

• planlegen
• Pläne

• Plan

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

• pelan (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore)

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.

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

plan (uncountable)

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

   Synonym: rencana

• “plan”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Borrowed from Polish plan.

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

plan m inan

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

• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011), “plan”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎^[4], volume 2, page 425

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

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

1. a plan
2. a level or plane

• “plan” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /plaːn/

From German Plan, from Latin plānum.

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

1. plane
2. level

• planovergang

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

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

1. a plan

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

From Latin planus.

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

1. plane, flat

• “plan” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /pla/

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

plan m (plural plans)

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

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

1. flat

   Synonym: planièr

plan

1. well

   Antonym: mal

2. very, quite

   Synonym: fòrça

   mercés plan ― thank you very much

• Joan de Cantalausa (2006), Diccionari general occitan a partir dels parlars lengadocians‎^[5], 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 754

Borrowed from French plan.^[1][2] Sense 1 is a semantic loan from English plan and German Plan.^[3] First attested in the 19th century.^[4]

• IPA^(key): /ˈplan/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -an
• Syllabification: plan

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?)

• → Kashubian: plan

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.^[5]

• 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

Borrowed from French plan, from Latin planus.

plan n (plural planuri)

1. plan
2. (geometry) plane

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

1. planar, flat

Borrowed from German Plan.

• IPA^(key): /plâːn/
• Rhymes: -âːn

plȃn m inan (Cyrillic spelling пла̑н)

1. plan

Borrowed from German Plan.

• IPA^(key): /ˈplan/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -an
• Syllabification: plan

plan m inan

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

• plan in silling.org

From plano.

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

plan m (plural planes)

1. plan
   • 2020 September 24, Matt Villano, “Estudiantes con necesidades especiales enfrentan desafíos de aprendizaje virtual”, in CNN en Español‎^[6]:

     En total, hay aproximadamente 7 millones de estudiantes con necesidades especiales en Estados Unidos que califican para adaptaciones específicamente diseñadas en la escuela, conocidas como plan educativo individualizado o IEP. […] Ninguna discusión sobre el aprendizaje virtual para estudiantes con necesidades especiales puede comenzar sin al menos una explicación superficial de qué son los planes de educación individualizados y cómo funcionan normalmente en un entorno escolar.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. scheme (systematic plan of future action)

   Synonyms: régimen, sistema

3. intention

   Synonym: intensión

4. (colloquial) mood

   Synonym: ánimo

   Vamos en plan rómantico.

   We’re going in a romantic mood.

• → Basque: plan

• “plan”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /plɑːn/
• Rhymes: -ɑːn

plan (comparative planare, superlative planast)

1. plane (flat)

   en plan yta

   a flat surface

2. plane (level)

   Kulan rullar, så golvet är inte helt plant

   The marble rolls, so the floor isn't completely level

plan n

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

   Synonym: flygplan

3. a plane; level of existence

   astralplan ― astral plane

plan c

1. a plan (planned actions)

   Jag har en plan

   I have a plan

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.

   Fotbollsspelarna sprang ut på planen

   The soccer players ran out onto the field

   ishockeyplan

   ice hockey rink (also called a rink)

   gårdsplan

   courtyard

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