plait
noun
[ plat ]
• a single length of hair, straw, rope, or other material made up of three or more interlaced strands.
• "she wore her dark hair in plaits"
• archaic term for pleat.
plait
verb
• form (hair, straw, rope, or other material) into a plait or plaits.
• "her hair had been plaited and coiled at the back of her head"
Origin:
late Middle English: from Old French pleit ‘a fold’, based on Latin plicare ‘to fold’. The word was formerly often pronounced like ‘plate’; since late Middle English there has been an alternative spelling plat, to which the current pronunciation corresponds.
