noun
individual small plates; personal serving plates
Refers to small plates used for serving individual portions, often in shared meals or multi-course settings.
銘々皿に取り分けてから食べてください。
Please serve yourself onto individual plates before eating.
Variant spelling without the iteration mark; less common but still seen.
取り皿 is a more general term for a plate used to take food from a shared dish, while 銘々皿 emphasizes that each person has their own designated small plate.
Compound of 銘々 (めいめい, 'each individual') and 皿 (さら, 'plate'). The exact historical derivation is straightforward.