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plaque

 [plak]   Origin

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.
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6.
Bacteriology. a cleared region in a bacterial culture, resulting from lysis of bacteria by bacteriophages.
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Origin:
1840–50; < French, noun derivative of plaquer to plate < Middle Dutch placken to patch; compare placket

Can be confused: plague, plaque.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Plaque is always a great word to know.
So is cornea. Does it mean:
the outer, nonvascular, nonsensitive layer of the skin, covering the true skin or corium
the transparent anterior part of the external coat of the eye covering the iris and the pupil and continuous with the sclera
LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...
Collins
World English Dictionary
plaque (plæk, plɑːk)
 
—n
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
 
[C19: from French, from plaquier to plate, from Middle Dutch placken to beat (metal) into a thin plate]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

plaque
1848, "ornamental plate or tablet," from Fr. plaque, from M.Fr., "metal plate, coin," perhaps through Flem. placke "small coin," from M.Du. placke "disk, patch, stain," related to Ger. Placken "spot, patch" (cf. placard). Meaning "deposit on walls of arteries" is first attested 1891; that of "bacteria
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deposits on teeth" is 1898.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

plaque (plāk)
n.

  1. A small disk-shaped formation or growth; a patch.

  2. A deposit of fatty material on the inner lining of an arterial wall, characteristic of atherosclerosis.

  3. Dental plaque.

  4. A clear, often round patch of lysed cells in an otherwise opaque layer of a bacteria or cell culture.

  5. A scaly patch formed on the skin by psoriasis.

  6. A sharply defined zone of demyelination characteristic of multiple sclerosis.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
plaque   (plāk)  Pronunciation Key 

  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.


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary
plaque [(plak)]

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.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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