Etymology

boilerplate

boil·er·plate
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Today it means: A sheet of copper or steel used in the construction of a boiler. Full definition →

English plate ← Middle English plate ← Old French plate
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*bew-der.?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*bʰel-der.?
  3. Latinbulla
  4. Latinbulliō
  5. Old Frenchboillir
  6. Middle Englishboillen
  7. Englishboil
  8. Englishboiler
  9. Proto-Indo-European*pleth₂-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*pléth₂us
  11. Proto-Hellenic*plətús
  12. Ancient Greekπλατύς (platús)
  13. Vulgar Latin*platta
  14. Old Frenchplate
  15. Middle Englishplate
  16. Englishplate
  17. English todayboilerplate

From boiler + plate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.