aplacé

Aplacé is a French adjective and past participle meaning “laid flat” or “evenly placed.” It is linked to the verb aplacer, a rarely used form in modern French, and to the phrase à plat, which literally means “flat.” In practice, aplacé describes a surface or arrangement that has been made level or smoothly laid out.

In contemporary usage, the verb behind aplacé is uncommon, and the term is mostly found in historical texts, older literature, art criticism, architectural descriptions, and dictionaries. Modern French tends to use more common verbs such as aplatir (to flatten), mettre à plat, or rendre plat for similar ideas. As a result, aplacé is typically encountered as a literary or archaic word rather than a part of everyday speech.

In translation, aplacé is usually rendered as “laid flat” or “flattened,” depending on the context. The term serves primarily as a historical or descriptive descriptor rather than a standard modern vocabulary item.

See also: à plat, aplatir, aplatissement.