A Pane of Glass Was Once a Piece of Cloth
A pane is a sheet of glass in a window. The word originally meant any flat piece.
A pane is a single sheet of glass in a window or door. The word came from Latin *pannus*, a cloth or rag, and meant any flat piece or section — a panel of cloth in a garment, a section of a wall, a division of a field. Glass took the name only because early windows were made of many small pieces held in lead, each one a *pane* in the older sense of a section. *Panel* is the diminutive of the same word, and *pane* has nothing to do with *pain*.
- A sheet of glass. *A window pane.*
- A section. *A pane of stamps.*
- Panel — the diminutive. *A panel.*
- A piece of cloth (archaic). *A pane.*
- Latin — *pannus*, cloth. *The root.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | pane | A pane. |
| Plural | panes | Panes. |
| Related | panel | A panel. |
| Compound | windowpane | A windowpane. |
| Latin | pannus | Cloth. |
- The pane was cracked.Glass.
- A pane of stamps.Section.
- Pannus meant cloth.Etymology.
Why old windows have small panes
- Large flat glass was extremely hard to make before the 1800s
- Crown glass was spun into a disc and cut into small pieces
- Lead cames held the pieces together in a lattice
- The centre of the disc, the bullseye, was the cheapest piece
- Plate glass made large single panes possible
Old French *pan*, from Latin *pannus*, a cloth or piece of cloth.
Why did a cloth word become a glass word?
Pane meant any flat section. Early windows were built from many small sections, and glass took the name.
Is panel related?
Yes. Panel is the diminutive of the same word, meaning a little pane or section.