/air"euh playn'/ , n. Chiefly Brit.
airplane.
[ 1870-75; aéroplane, equiv. to aéro- AERO- + -plane, appar. fem. of plan flat, level ( planus; cf. PLAIN 1 ), perh. by assoc. with forme plane; appar. coined and first used by French sculptor and inventor Joseph Pline in 1855 ]