plain

adj

Etymology: From Middle English pleyn, borrowed from Old French plein, from Latin plēnus (“full, filled, complete”). Ultimately from Proto-Italic *plēnos, from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós (“full”). Doublet of plene, plenary, and full.

1. Full, complete in number or extent.

adv

Etymology: From Middle English pleyn, borrowed from Anglo-Norman pleyn, playn, Middle French plain, plein, and Old French plain, from Latin plānus (“flat, even, level, plain”). Doublet of llano, piano, and plane.

1. Simply.

   “It was just plain stupid.”

   “I plain forgot.”

2. Plainly; distinctly.

   “Tell me plain: do you love me or no?”

name

1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: From Anglo-Norman plainer, pleiner, variant of Anglo-Norman and Old French pleindre, plaindre, from Latin plangere.

1. A lamentation.

   “The warrior-threat, the infant's plain, The mother's screams, were heard in vain;”

verb

Etymology: From Anglo-Norman plainer, pleiner, variant of Anglo-Norman and Old French pleindre, plaindre, from Latin plangere.

1. To complain.

   “Persones and parisch prestes · pleyned hem to þe bischop / Þat here parisshes were pore · sith þe pestilence tyme […].”

2. To lament, bewail.

   “to plain a loss”

   “Shepheards, that wont[…] Oft times to plaine your loves concealed smart”