platter

Platter is a large, flat dish used for presenting and serving food. It is typically wider and flatter than a standard plate and can be made of ceramic, porcelain, glass, metal, wood, or plastic. In domestic and commercial settings, serving platters come in many shapes and sizes and are used for items such as meat and cheese platters, fruit platters, or party platters.

Etymology traces the word to Old French plat and Latin planus, both conveying the idea of a flat surface. In dining, a platter may be decorative or functional, designed to be carried from the kitchen to the table or buffet. Some platters are lipped or raised to contain sauces, while others are simple flat surfaces for elegant presentation.

In technology, platter refers to a disk in a hard disk drive or similar storage device: a circular disc coated with magnetic material on which data are recorded. Drives may contain multiple platters stacked with read/write heads that access data from the surface.

In music and popular culture, platter is also slang for a vinyl record or album, especially in mid-20th-century English. The term evokes the format itself as a physical, tangible record rather than digital media.

Overall, platters serve both practical and aesthetic roles in food presentation, while also appearing in technical and cultural contexts as a term for circular storage surfaces or records.