Plate vs. Platter — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman — Updated on October 12, 2023
A plate is typically a flat dish from which food is eaten, while a platter is a large dish or plate used for serving food.
Difference Between Plate and Platter
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Plate, in various cultures and settings, holds significant standing as a basic, day-to-day item. Plates are typically smaller, utilized to serve individual portions, and come in a wide array of sizes and designs. They are the dishes upon which meals are usually served and are commonly found in different materials such as ceramic, glass, or plastic. A plate acts as the primary dishware for individual servings, encapsulating both functionality and aesthetic utility in dining settings.
In contrast, a platter tends to emphasize its role in larger gatherings or family settings. Platters are larger, usually utilized to serve group portions or to present a spread of various food items, such as meats, cheeses, fruits, or appetizers, in an aesthetically pleasing manner. It caters to the collective, offering a shared space from which individuals can serve themselves. Hence, a platter often becomes a centerpiece in banquet settings, embodying both practical use and a pivotal visual element in feasts.
Moreover, the plate often is a standard item in various culinary settings, from casual to formal dining. It appears in numerous shapes and forms, occasionally coming with specific designs for particular types of meals or cuisines. Plates serve as the foundational element in place settings, offering a designated space for individual food portions.
On the flip side, a platter often exemplifies the ethos of shared dining experiences. Their larger surface areas and sometimes elaborate designs emphasize their role in festive or communal dining settings. Platters are not just utility items but are often crafted to be visually stunning, enhancing the presentation of food in social dining circumstances.
Interestingly, in a linguistic and cultural context, the plate often finds its place in everyday language and expressions. The notion of having “a lot on one’s plate” portrays the item as a metaphorical space holding tasks or responsibilities, underscoring its daily, personal utility.
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Conversely, the term platter might be conjured in scenarios where generosity or abundance is discussed. Expressions like “handed to you on a silver platter” imply a gift or opportunity presented with ease and grandeur, embodying the platter’s association with lavishness and ample offerings.
Comparison Chart
Size
Generally smaller, for individual use
Larger, for serving multiple people
Typical Use
Daily meals, individual portions
Parties, serving various items
Linguistic Usage
Common in everyday expressions
Used in expressions of abundance
Cultural Context
Ubiquitous in various dining settings
Often seen in festive occasions
Design Variations
Extensive, for various meal types
Broad, emphasizing presentation
Compare with Definitions
Plate
Plate can refer to a thin, flat bone or rigid piece of material.
“The doctor said the plate in his head was secure.”
Platter
Platter can imply a set meal at a restaurant.
“She ordered the seafood platter for dinner.”
Plate
Plate refers to a sheet on which an image is prepared for printing.
“The artist prepared the plate for the printing press.”
Platter
Platter refers to the rotating disc part of a turntable.
“The DJ spun the record on the platter.”
Plate
A smooth, flat, relatively thin, rigid body of uniform thickness.
Platter
A platter is a large flat dish used for serving food.
“She placed the turkey on the platter.”
Plate
A sheet of hammered, rolled, or cast metal.
Platter
Platter is the circular disk on which data is stored inside a hard drive.
“The hard drive’s platter was damaged in the crash.”
Plate
A very thin applied or deposited coat of metal.
Platter
A platter can refer to an array or display of something.
“He was handed opportunities on a silver platter.”
Plate
A flat piece of metal forming part of a machine
A boiler plate.
Platter
A large flat dish or plate for serving food
Arrange the fruit on a serving platter
Plate
A flat piece of metal on which something is engraved.
Platter
The rotating metal disc forming the turntable of a record player.
Plate
A license plate
A car with Utah plates.
Platter
A large shallow dish or plate, used especially for serving food.
Plate
A thin piece of metal used for armor.
Platter
A meal or course served on a platter.
Plate
Armor made of such pieces.
Platter
(Slang) A phonograph record.
Plate
A sheet of metal, plastic, rubber, paperboard, or other material prepared for use as a printing surface, such as an electrotype or a stereotype.
Platter
A tray for serving foods.
Plate
A print of a woodcut, lithograph, or other engraved material, especially when reproduced in a book.
Platter
A main dish and side dishes served together on one plate.
Plate
A full-page book illustration, often in color and printed on paper different from that used for text pages.
Platter
The hard surface of a turntable on which a gramophone record rests when being played.
Plate
(Photography) A light-sensitive sheet of glass or metal on which a photographic image can be recorded.
Platter
(computing) One of possibly many disks on which data is stored in a mechanical hard drive.
Plate
(Dentistry) A thin metallic or plastic support fitted to the gums to anchor artificial teeth.
Platter
One who plats/plaits or braids.
Plate
(Architecture) In wood-frame construction, a horizontal member that bears a load, as of a roof or a wall.
Platter
One who plats or braids.
Plate
(Baseball) Home plate.
Platter
A large plate or shallow dish on which meat or other food is brought to the table.
The attendants . . . speedly brought in several large, smoking platters, filled with huge pieces of beef.
Plate
A shallow dish in which food is served or from which it is eaten.
Platter
A large shallow dish used for serving food
Plate
The contents of such a dish
Ate a plate of spaghetti.
Platter
Sound recording consisting of a disc with continuous grooves; formerly used to reproduce music by rotating while a phonograph needle tracked in the grooves
Plate
A whole course served on such a dish.
Plate
Service and food for one person at a meal
Dinner at a set price per plate.
Plate
Household articles, such as hollowware, covered with a precious metal, such as silver or gold.
Plate
A dish passed among the members of a group or congregation for the collection of offerings.
Plate
A dish, cup, or other article of silver or gold offered as a prize.
Plate
A contest, especially a horserace, offering such a prize.
Plate
A thin cut of beef from underneath the ribs, including the diaphragm muscle.
Plate
A thin flat layer or scale, as that of a fish.
Plate
A platelike part, organ, or structure, such as that covering some reptiles.
Plate
An electrode, as in a storage battery or capacitor.
Plate
The anode in an electron tube.
Plate
(Geology) See tectonic plate.
Plate
(Informal) A schedule of matters to be dealt with
Had a lot on my plate at work after vacation.
Plate
To coat or cover with a thin layer of metal.
Plate
To cover with armor plate
Plate a warship.
Plate
(Printing) To make a stereotype or electrotype from.
Plate
To give a glossy finish to (paper) by pressing between metal sheets or rollers.
Plate
To arrange (food) on a plate, as for serving
"a choice of starters, entrées, and desserts plated just as they will appear when ordered" (John Edward Young).
Plate
(Baseball) To cause (a run) to be scored or (a runner) to cross home plate, as by a hit.
Plate
A slightly curved but almost flat dish from which food is served or eaten.
I filled my plate from the bountiful table.
Plate
(uncountable) Such dishes collectively.
Plate
The contents of such a dish.
I ate a plate of beans.
Plate
A course at a meal.
The meat plate was particularly tasty.
Plate
(figuratively) An agenda of tasks, problems, or responsibilities
With revenues down and transfer payments up, the legislature has a full plate.
Plate
A flat object of uniform thickness.
The most important and most expensive part of any solar cell is a silicon plate.
Plate
A vehicle license plate.
He stole a car and changed the plates as soon as he could.
Plate
A taxi permit, especially of a metal disc.
Plate
(historical) Plate armor.
He was confronted by two knights in full plate.
Plate
A layer of a material on the surface of something, usually qualified by the type of the material; plating
The bullets just bounced off the steel plate on its hull.
Plate
A material covered with such a layer.
If you're not careful, someone will sell you silverware that's really only silver plate.
Plate
(dated) An ornamental or food service item coated with silver or gold or otherwise decorated.
The tea was served in the plate.
Plate
(weightlifting) A weighted disk, usually of metal, with a hole in the center for use with a barbell, dumbbell, or exercise machine.
Plate
(printing) An engraved surface used to transfer an image to paper.
We finished making the plates this morning.
Plate
An image or copy.
Plate
An illustration in a book, either black and white, or colour, usually on a page of paper of different quality from the text pages.
Plate
(dentistry) A shaped and fitted surface, usually ceramic or metal that fits into the mouth and in which teeth are implanted; a dental plate.
Plate
(construction) A horizontal framing member at the top or bottom of a group of vertical studs.
Plate
(Cockney rhyming slang) A foot, from "plates of meat".
Sit down and give your plates a rest.
Plate
(baseball) Home plate.
There was a close play at the plate.
Plate
(geology) A tectonic plate.
Plate
(herpetology) Any of various larger scales found in some reptiles.
Plate
A flat electrode such as can be found in an accumulator battery, or in an electrolysis tank.
Plate
The anode of a vacuum tube.
Regulating the oscillator plate voltage greatly improves the keying.
Plate
A prize given to the winner in a contest.
Plate
(chemistry) Any flat piece of material such as coated glass or plastic.
Plate
A metallic card, used to imprint tickets with an airline's logo, name, and numeric code.
Plate
The ability of a travel agent to issue tickets on behalf of a particular airline.
Plate
(Australia) A VIN plate, particularly with regard to the car's year of manufacture.
Plate
One of the thin parts of the brisket of an animal.
Plate
A very light steel horseshoe for racehorses.
Plate
(furriers' slang) Skins for fur linings of garments, sewn together and roughly shaped, but not finally cut or fitted.
Plate
(hat-making) The fine nap (as of beaver, musquash, etc.) on a hat whose body is made from inferior material.
Plate
(music) A record, usually vinyl.
Plate
(military) trauma plate.
The SAPI plate in his vest protected him from the bullet's impact.
Plate
Precious metal, especially silver.
Plate
(obsolete) Silver or gold, in the form of a coin, or less often silver or gold utensils or dishes.
Plate
(heraldic charge) A roundel of silver or argent.
Plate
To cover the surface material of an object with a thin coat of another material, usually a metal.
This ring is plated with a thin layer of gold.
Plate
To place the various elements of a meal on the diner's plate prior to serving.
After preparation, the chef will plate the dish.
Plate
(baseball) To score a run.
The single plated the runner from second base.
Plate
(transitive) To arm or defend with metal plates.
Plate
(transitive) To beat into thin plates.
Plate
To specify which airline a ticket will be issued on behalf of.
Tickets are normally plated on an itinerary's first international airline.
Plate
(philately) to categorise stamps based on their position on the original sheet, in order to reconstruct an entire sheet.
Plate
(philately) (particularly with early British stamps) to identify the printing plate used.
Plate
A flat, or nearly flat, piece of metal, the thickness of which is small in comparison with the other dimensions; a thick sheet of metal; as, a steel plate.
Plate
Metallic armor composed of broad pieces.
Mangled . . . through plate and mail.
Plate
Domestic vessels and utensils, as flagons, dishes, cups, etc., wrought in gold or silver.
Plate
Metallic ware which is plated, in distinction from that which is silver or gold throughout.
Plate
A small, shallow, and usually circular, vessel of metal or wood, or of earth glazed and baked, from which food is eaten at table.
Plate
A piece of money, usually silver money.
Plate
A piece of metal on which anything is engraved for the purpose of being printed; hence, an impression from the engraved metal; as, a book illustrated with plates; a fashion plate.
Plate
A page of stereotype, electrotype, or the like, for printing from; as, publisher's plates.
Plate
That part of an artificial set of teeth which fits to the mouth, and holds the teeth in place. It may be of gold, platinum, silver, rubber, celluloid, etc.
Plate
A horizontal timber laid upon a wall, or upon corbels projecting from a wall, and supporting the ends of other timbers; also used specifically of the roof plate which supports the ends of the roof trusses or, in simple work, the feet of the rafters.
Plate
A roundel of silver or tinctured argent.
Plate
A sheet of glass, porcelain, metal, etc., with a coating that is sensitive to light.
Plate
A prize giving to the winner in a contest.
Plate
A small five-sided area (enveloping a diamond-shaped area one foot square) beside which the batter stands and which must be touched by some part of a player on completing a run; - called also home base, or home plate.
Plate
One of the thin parts of the bricket of an animal.
Plate
A very light steel racing horsehoe.
Plate
Loosely, a sporting contest for a prize; specif., in horse racing, a race for a prize, the contestants not making a stake.
Plate
Skins for fur linings of garments, sewed together and roughly shaped, but not finally cut or fitted.
Plate
The fine nap (as of beaver, hare's wool, musquash, nutria, or English black wool) on a hat the body of which is of an inferior substance.
Plate
A quantity sufficient to fill a plate; a plateful; a dish containing that quantity; a plate of spaghetti.
Plate
The food and service supplied to a customer at a restaurant; as, the turkey dinner is $9 a plate; I'll have a plate of spaghetti.
Plate
A flat dish of glass or plastic with a fitted cover, used for culturing microorganisms in a laboratory.
Plate
The identification tag required to be displayed on the outside of a vehicle; same as license plate; - often used in the plural.
Plate
An agenda or schedule of tasks to be performed; I have a lot on my plate today.
Plate
To cover or overlay with gold, silver, or other metals, either by a mechanical process, as hammering, or by a chemical process, as electrotyping.
Plate
To cover or overlay with plates of metal; to arm with metal for defense.
Thus plated in habiliments of war.
Plate
To adorn with plated metal; as, a plated harness.
Plate
To beat into thin, flat pieces, or laminæ.
Plate
To calender; as, to plate paper.
Plate
A sheet of metal or wood or glass or plastic
Plate
(baseball) base consisting of a rubber slab where the batter stands; it must be touched by a base runner in order to score;
He ruled that the runner failed to touch home
Plate
A full-page illustration (usually on slick paper)
Plate
Dish on which food is served or from which food is eaten
Plate
The quantity contained in a plate
Plate
A rigid layer of the Earth's crust that is believed to drift slowly
Plate
The thin under portion of the forequarter
Plate
A main course served on a plate;
A vegetable plate
The blue plate special
Plate
Any flat platelike body structure or part
Plate
The positively charged electrode in a vacuum tube
Plate
A flat sheet of metal or glass on which a photographic image can be recorded
Plate
Structural member consisting of a horizontal beam that provides bearing and anchorage
Plate
A shallow receptacle for collection in church
Plate
A metal sheathing of uniform thickness (such as the shield attached to an artillery piece to protect the gunners)
Plate
A dental appliance that artificially replaces missing teeth
Plate
The position on a baseball team of the player who is stationed behind home plate and who catches the balls that the pitcher throws;
A catcher needs a lot of protective equipment
He plays behind the plate
Plate
Coat with a layer of metal;
Plate spoons with silver
Plate
Plate is a flat dish typically used to hold food.
“She set the plate on the table.”
Plate
Plate can mean a large section of the Earth’s crust.
“The tectonic plate shifted, causing an earthquake.”
Plate
Plate is the slab of rubber that the pitcher must throw the ball over in baseball.
“The pitcher aimed towards the plate.”
Common Curiosities
Can a platter be used for individual meals?
It’s unusual, as platters are generally larger and meant for serving.
Is a plate a casual dishware item?
Not always, plates can be casual or formal depending on design.
Can a plate be used as a serving dish?
Yes, but it's generally too small for multiple servings.
Do platters come with sectional divides?
Some do, especially those designed for serving assorted items.
What material is a plate typically made of?
Common materials include ceramic, plastic, glass, and metal.
Are plates always round?
No, plates come in various shapes like square, oval, and more.
Are platters used in casual dining?
They can be, especially in family settings or small gatherings.
Is a plate used for serving?
Typically, a plate is used for individual portions, not serving.
Can I use a plate for salads?
Yes, plates are often used for all meal types, including salads.
Are plates and platters interchangeable?
Not usually, due to their differing sizes and typical uses.
Are platters mostly decorative?
While often adorned, they are functional serving dishes too.
Is a plate suitable for sharing meals?
Not typically, due to its size it’s meant for individual use.
Are platters always solid?
Most are, but some have a perforated design for certain foods.
Can a platter be used in formal settings?
Yes, especially when serving communal dishes in formal gatherings.
Can you serve hot food on a platter?
Yes, ensure the material of the platter is heat-safe.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
