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foliate

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foliate¹

  • /ˈfəʊliət/ UK
  • /-eɪt/ UK
  • /ˈfoʊliət/ US
  • /-ˌeɪt/ US

Where it comes from

Learned borrowing from Latin foliātus (“having leaves, leafy, leaved”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), a participial adjective derived from folium (“leaf; (Late Latin) leaf or sheet of paper”) + -ātus (participial adjective-forming suffix) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“blossom, flower”) or *dʰelh₁- (“to be green”)).

adjective more foliate · most foliate

  1. Of or relating to leaves.

    Similar: foliar

  2. Shaped like or otherwise resembling a leaf; leaflike. In the Laureat draughts of ſculpture and picture, the leaves and foliate vvorks are commonly thus contrived, vvhich is but in imitation of the Pulvinaria, and ancient pillovv-vvork, obſervable in Ionick peeces, about columns, temples and altars.

    Similar: foliaceous, leaf-shaped, leafy · Opposite: nonfoliate

  3. Of a curve: having two infinite branches with a common asymptote, and a leaf-shaped loop.

    Similar: foliaceous, leaf-shaped, leafy · Opposite: nonfoliate

  4. Of a plant: having leaves.

    Similar: leafy, leaved · Opposite: nonfoliate, aphyllous

  5. Of a leaf: having a (certain number of) leaflets.
  6. Synonym of foliated (“of a rock: having a structure of thin layers”).

    Similar: foliated

  7. obsolete In the form of a foil or thin sheet. foliate gold

foliate²

Where it comes from

From a substantivation of the above adjective. Equivalent to folia + -ate (noun-forming suffix).

noun foliates

  1. A logocyclic curve.

foliate³

  • /ˈfəʊlieɪt/ UK
  • /ˈfoʊliˌeɪt/ US

Where it comes from

From Latin folium (“leaf”) + -ate (verb-forming suffix) (more at etymology 1)

verb foliates · foliating · foliated

  1. transitive To add numbers to (a folio or leaf, or all the folios or leaves, of a book); also, to add numbers to the folios or leaves of (a book); to folio, to page, to paginate.
  2. transitive To spread (glass) with a thin coat of mercury and tin, or other substances forming a foil, to create a mirror; to foil, to silver. to foliate a looking-glass
  3. transitive To decorate (an architectural feature, as an arch or window) with foils (“small arcs in the traceries of arches, windows, etc.”). All European architecture, bad and good, old and new, is derived from Greece through Rome, and coloured and perfected from the East. […] Now observe: those old Greeks gave the shaft; Rome gave the arch; the Arabs pointed and foliated the arch.
  4. obsolete, transitive To beat (metal) into a foil or thin sheet. [I]f Gold be foliated and held betvveen your Eye and the Light, the Light looks blue, and therefore maſſy Gold lets into its Body the blue-making rays to be reflected to and fro vvithin it till they be ſtopt and ſtifled, vvhilſt it reflects the yellovv-making outvvards, and thereby looks yellovv.
  5. intransitive To split into layers or leaves.
  6. intransitive Of a plant: to produce leaves.

Translations

Every language

adj of a plant: having leaves

Românăfoliat

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Cite this
MLA

"foliate." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/foliate. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

foliate. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/foliate

Chicago

"foliate." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/foliate.

BibTeX
@misc{foliate_2026,
  title = {foliate},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/foliate},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}