What does placket mean?
A placket is the opening at the front of a shirt, dress, or similar garment, or the strip of fabric and fastening mechanism that forms that opening. Common designs include buttoned, concealed, zippered, and stand-up plackets. In everyday clothing descriptions, the word usually refers to the buttoned band running down the front of a shirt; in sewing and garment-making contexts, it can more precisely identify either the slit or the facing stitched around it. The word is formal and specialized compared with the general terms opening or flap, but it remains familiar to anyone who sews, shops for clothing, or encounters it in product descriptions. Its usefulness lies in distinguishing a particular structural feature of a garment from a generic gap or fastening: the placket is a named component with established ways of construction and function.
nounA placket is the opening or slit at the front of a shirt or other garment, together with the fabric facing or fastening device attached to it.
- The opening or slit at the front of a garment.
- The strip of fabric, often fitted with buttons, buttonholes, or a zipper, that forms or borders such an opening.
"She fastened the last button of her shirt and smoothed the collar over the placket."
"The dress has a concealed placket running down the back."
"After threading the needle, she repaired the torn placket of his shirt."
The plural is regular: placket becomes plackets by adding -s.
"The tailor replaced several damaged plackets on the jackets."
On a shirt, a placket is the doorway to putting it on.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does placket come from?
The word dates from the late Middle English period and has long been associated with openings and fastenings in clothing. Its precise ultimate derivation is uncertain, with historical reference works offering different accounts of the word's route into English. Modern usage preserves the specialized garment-making sense established in that older tradition.
How placket is actually used
The term is chiefly used in clothing, sewing, and garment design. It refers both to the opening itself and, in current usage, to the reinforced fabric or closure attached to it.
Easily confused with placket
A placket is an opening or fastening area in a garment, whereas a plaque is a flat decorative or commemorative plate.