Plaffeien (French: Planfayon; Arpitan: Pllanfayon [plɑ̃faˈjɔ̃] ⓘ) is a municipality in the district of Sense in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland.

It is one of the municipalities with a large majority of German speakers in the mostly French speaking Canton of Fribourg.

[3] The name Plaffeien probably comes from the Latin "planum-fageum" meaning beech forest and therefore may date to the Roman era.

Beginning around the end of the fifth century, the German speaking Alemanni slowly moved into the area and settled.

[5] The first written records of Plaffeien are from Rüeggisberg Priory in 1148, which mention a village church.

[5] In the 14th century, the nobleman Wilhelm von Englisberg donated a forest and the commons to the village, with the requirement that a mass be held in his honor every year on 25 July.

Plaffeien's location along the road to the Euschelspass and on the banks of the Sense river meant the area was invaded several times during the wars between Bern and Fribourg.

A total of 51 houses burned down, 15 in the village of Oberschrot and 36 in Plaffeien, leaving 62 families or 274 people homeless.

They began rebuilding in the summer of 1906 and the corner stone of the current church was laid on 26 April 1908.

[8] Before the merger Plaffeien had an area, (as of the 2004/09 survey) of 59.41 square kilometers (22.94 sq mi).

Over the same time period, the amount of recreational space in the municipality increased by 7 ha (17 acres) and is now about 0.20% of the total area.

[11] In black a silver bar covered with two blue wave borders, over which lies a golden lily.

The two blue wave ridges symbolise the natural, species-rich river landscape of the Sense and the historically and culturally important Dütschbach, both of which flow through the area of the future municipality.

The newly created coat of arms of the BOPPZ five merger project has been adopted unchanged.

Only in the blazoning (description) has the Dütschbach taken the place of the Aergera and with regard to the lily of the Lords of Maggenberg, reference is made to the current coats of arms of the municipalities of Oberschrot and Zumholz.

The coat of arms as well as its blazoning has been positively assessed by the State Archives Freiburg.

[15] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (1,774 or 91.5%) as their first language, Albanian is the second most common (76 or 3.9%) and French is the third (50 or 2.6%).

[15] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][19] The Maria Geburt parish church is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

The entire village of Plaffeien is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

In the tertiary sector; 159 or 35.3% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 43 or 9.5% were in the movement and storage of goods, 89 or 19.7% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 16 or 3.5% were the insurance or financial industry, 25 or 5.5% were technical professionals or scientists, 50 or 11.1% were in education and 22 or 4.9% were in health care.

The wettest month is August during which time Plaffeien receives an average of 147 mm (5.8 in) of rain or snow.

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.

The upper Secondary school is divided into gymnasium (university preparatory) and vocational programs.

After they finish the upper Secondary program, students may choose to attend a Tertiary school or continue their apprenticeship.

[29] In 2014 the crime rate, of the over 200 crimes listed in the Swiss Criminal Code (running from murder, robbery and assault to accepting bribes and election fraud), in Plaffeien was 44.8 per thousand residents, which is about two-thirds the national rate.