plancher

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French plancher.

Noun

plancher (plural planchers)

1. A floor made of wood.
2. A plank.
   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     Elm; [used] some for planchers

3. (architecture) The underside of a cornice; a soffit.

Verb

plancher (third-person singular simple present planchers, present participle planchering, simple past and past participle planchered)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To form using planks.
   • 1586, Conrad Heresbach, Foure Bookes of Husbandrie:

     your stable be well paved with rounde stone, wel planchered and kept clean

References

• “plancher”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “plancher”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plɑ̃.ʃe/

• Audio:

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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Etymology 1

From planche +‎ -er.

Noun

plancher m (plural planchers)

1. (archaic) plancher (floor made of wood)
2. floor (the interior bottom or surface of a house or building; the supporting surface of a room)

   Coordinate term: plafond

   débarrasser le plancher ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   plancher des vaches ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

3. (by extension, geology, biology, anatomy) floor (the bottom surface of a natural structure, entity, or space)

   plancher océanique ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   plancher pelvien ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

4. lower limit

   un prix plancher ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Derived terms

• mettre le pied au plancher
• pied au plancher

Etymology 2

From planche +‎ -er. Compare bûcher.

Verb

plancher

1. (intransitive) to study something thoroughly, to work hard on something, to brainstorm

   J'ai planché sur le sujet.

   I have made extensive research on the topic.

   • 2025 June 9, François Tonneau, ““Mettre fin à la pêche illégale” : l'alerte des scientifiques”, in La Provence, →ISSN:

     […] une centaine de scientifiques ont donc planché toute la semaine, préparant leurs recommandations, avant de les restituer ce dimanche à Emmanuel Macron et un aréopage de personnalités.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

Conjugation of plancher (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	plancher
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	planchant /plɑ̃.ʃɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		planché /plɑ̃.ʃe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	planche /plɑ̃ʃ/	planches /plɑ̃ʃ/	planche /plɑ̃ʃ/	planchons /plɑ̃.ʃɔ̃/	planchez /plɑ̃.ʃe/	planchent /plɑ̃ʃ/
	imperfect	planchais /plɑ̃.ʃɛ/	planchais /plɑ̃.ʃɛ/	planchait /plɑ̃.ʃɛ/	planchions /plɑ̃.ʃjɔ̃/	planchiez /plɑ̃.ʃje/	planchaient /plɑ̃.ʃɛ/
	past historic2	planchai /plɑ̃.ʃe/	planchas /plɑ̃.ʃa/	plancha /plɑ̃.ʃa/	planchâmes /plɑ̃.ʃam/	planchâtes /plɑ̃.ʃat/	planchèrent /plɑ̃.ʃɛʁ/
	future	plancherai /plɑ̃ʃ.ʁe/	plancheras /plɑ̃ʃ.ʁa/	planchera /plɑ̃ʃ.ʁa/	plancherons /plɑ̃ʃ.ʁɔ̃/	plancherez /plɑ̃ʃ.ʁe/	plancheront /plɑ̃ʃ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	plancherais /plɑ̃ʃ.ʁɛ/	plancherais /plɑ̃ʃ.ʁɛ/	plancherait /plɑ̃ʃ.ʁɛ/	plancherions /plɑ̃.ʃə.ʁjɔ̃/	plancheriez /plɑ̃.ʃə.ʁje/	plancheraient /plɑ̃ʃ.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	planche /plɑ̃ʃ/	planches /plɑ̃ʃ/	planche /plɑ̃ʃ/	planchions /plɑ̃.ʃjɔ̃/	planchiez /plɑ̃.ʃje/	planchent /plɑ̃ʃ/
	imperfect2	planchasse /plɑ̃.ʃas/	planchasses /plɑ̃.ʃas/	planchât /plɑ̃.ʃa/	planchassions /plɑ̃.ʃa.sjɔ̃/	planchassiez /plɑ̃.ʃa.sje/	planchassent /plɑ̃.ʃas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	planche /plɑ̃ʃ/	—	planchons /plɑ̃.ʃɔ̃/	planchez /plɑ̃.ʃe/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Further reading

• “plancher”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012