1. utensils, as knives, forks, and spoons, used at the table for serving and eating food. 2. dishes or containers for the table that are more or less flat, as plates and saucers (source: the internet)
In my area, flatware == silverware, but not necessarily silver.
"Cutlery is more usually known as silverware or flatware in the United States, where cutlery usually means knives and related cutting instruments."
Saucepans aren't flat, but they rarely go on airplanes.
I'm from the US, and while I'm sure I've heard it before, I never really noticed it until this last November when I was planning a dinner party for the first time. As I understand it Silverware, Flatware, and Plasticware are all categories of utensils.
[1] https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/ea...
[2] https://premiereeventsonline.com/product-category/flatware/
plates, dishes, saucers in a sense "shallow; smooth-surfaced" + ware (n.). Originally as distinguished from hollow ware; U.S. sense of "domestic cutlery" recorded by 1895.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/flatware
Also: dishes, crockery, utensils, silverware, silver, cutlery, place settings.
In the U.S., "silverware" is probably even more common (is that what you say in the UK?), but HN readers probably tend to be the type reluctant to use such an obviously wrong term, since the knives, forks, and spoons included in the category are only in very rare cases actually made of silver. :) "Flatware" is more technical/industry, and the next most common if you don't like "silverware"; plus the general "cooking show" trend of everyone wanting to use industry terms to seem like food industry insiders.
Okay, i'm gonna try to switch to that, I like it.
"silverware" is probably the most popular in the US in general.