Other forms: lattices
A lattice is a framework of crossed strips with gaps between them. A wooden lattice, a lattice fence, a lattice window.
In gardens it supports climbing plants and screens a view without blocking light. A lattice pie has a woven top. In physics and chemistry, a crystal lattice is the regular repeating arrangement of atoms in a solid, and lattice energy is what holds it together. Note latticework, and that a lattice window has small diamond panes held in lead, which is the sense in most old buildings.
1nounlatticeA framework of crossed strips with gaps between.
“The lattice keeps the roses off the wall.”
2nounregularThe regular repeating arrangement of atoms in a solid.
“The whole lattice shifts when it is heated.”
lattice is a crossed framework.
Old French lattis comes from latte, a lath — a thin strip of wood, from a Germanic root. A lattice is literally lathwork, and lath and lattice are the same word with different endings.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)latn-
Proto-Germanic
*laþô — board; plank; ledge
Frankish
*lattu — a lath
Old French
lattis
Middle French
lattis — lathing
Middle English
latis
English, today
lattice
Built from
From Middle English latis, from Middle French lattis (“lathing”), from Old French lattis, from latte (“a lath”), from Frankish lattu (“a lath”), from Proto-Germanic laþô (“board; plank; ledge”), from Proto-Indo-European (s)latn-, (s)lat- (“beam; log”). Cognate with Old High German latta (“lath”), (German Latte), Old English lætt (“lath”), Middle Low German lāde (“plank, counter, sales counter”), German Laden (“shop”). More at lath.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
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