A plateau is a large, flat area of land that is higher than the land around it; it can also mean a period when progress stops increasing and stays level.
From French 'plateau' meaning 'flat highland', from Old French 'plat' meaning 'flat', from Latin 'planus'. It was first a geographic term before gaining its metaphorical sense.
Learning a skill often feels like climbing, then suddenly walking on a plateau where progress seems flat. That doesn’t mean nothing is happening—on real plateaus, whole ecosystems quietly thrive above the surrounding land.
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