An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Placken

by Friedrich Kluge

Placken, masculine, ‘patch, piece,’ from Middle High German placke, masculine, ‘spot, place, district’; compare Dutch plak, ‘spot, blot,’ English dialectic platch (variant of patch). From these German words, the origin of which is obscure (they can scarcely have originated in Latin plaga), are derived French plaque, placard, &c. Perhaps Upper German bletzen, ‘to patch,’ which has probably lost a guttural before the tz, is also connected with these cognates.