English Online Dictionary. What means plant? What does plant mean?
English
Etymology
From Middle English plante, from Old English plante (“young tree or shrub, herb newly planted”), from Proto-West Germanic *plantu, from Latin planta (“sprout, shoot, cutting”). Broader sense of "any vegetable life, vegetation generally" is from Old French plante. Doublet of clan (borrowed through Celtic languages) and planta (directly from Latin).
The verb is from Middle English planten, from Old English plantian (“to plant”), from Latin plantāre, later influenced by Old French planter. Compare also Dutch planten (“to plant”), German pflanzen (“to plant”), Swedish plantera (“to plant”), Icelandic planta (“to plant”).
The factory and machinery senses comes from the Latin sense of "any vegetable production that serves to propagate the species," which refers to something that produces.
Pronunciation
- (General Australian, US, Canada, Northern England) enPR: plănt, IPA(key): /plænt/, [pʰl̥ænt]
- (New Zealand, Received Pronunciation) enPR: plänt, IPA(key): /plɑːnt/, [pʰl̥ɑːnt]
- (æ-tensing) IPA(key): [pʰl̥eənt]
- Hyphenation: plant
- Rhymes: -ɑːnt, -ænt
Noun
plant (plural plants)
- (botany) An organism that is not an animal, especially an organism capable of photosynthesis. Typically a small or herbaceous organism of this kind, rather than a tree.
- (botany) An organism of the kingdom Plantae. Now specifically, a living organism of the Embryophyta (land plants) or of the Chlorophyta (green algae), a eukaryote that includes double-membraned chloroplasts in its cells containing chlorophyll a and b, or any organism closely related to such an organism.
- (ecology) Now specifically, a multicellular eukaryote that includes chloroplasts in its cells, which have a cell wall.
- (proscribed as biologically inaccurate) Any creature that grows on soil or similar surfaces, including plants and fungi. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
- A factory or other industrial or institutional building or facility.
- An object placed surreptitiously in order to cause suspicion to fall upon a person.
- (slang, obsolete) A stash or cache of hidden goods.
- Anyone assigned to behave as a member of the public during a covert operation (as in a police investigation).
- A person, placed amongst an audience, whose role is to cause confusion, laughter etc.
- (snooker) A play in which the cue ball knocks one (usually red) ball onto another, in order to pot the second; a set.
- (uncountable) Machinery, such as the kind used in earthmoving or construction.
- (obsolete) A young tree; a sapling; hence, a stick or staff.
- (obsolete) The sole of the foot.
- (dated, slang) A plan; a swindle; a trick.
- An oyster which has been bedded, in distinction from one of natural growth.
- (US, dialect) A young oyster suitable for transplanting.
- (control theory) The combination of process and actuator.
- (UK, slang, obsolete) A position in the street to sell from; a pitch.
Usage notes
The scientific definition of what organisms should be considered plants changed dramatically during the 20th century. Bacteria, algae, and fungi are no longer considered plants by those who study them. Many textbooks do not reflect the most current thinking on classification.
Hypernyms
- (biology): Archaeplastida
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Descendants
- → Punjabi: ਪਲਾਂਟ (palāṇṭ)
Translations
Verb
plant (third-person singular simple present plants, present participle planting, simple past and past participle planted)
- (ambitransitive) To place (a seed or plant) in soil or other substrate in order that it may live and grow.
- (transitive) To furnish or supply with plants.
- (transitive) To place (an object, or sometimes a person), often with the implication of intending deceit.
- (transitive) To place or set something firmly or with conviction.
- (transitive) To place in the ground.
- (transitive) To engender; to generate; to set the germ of.
- (transitive) To furnish with a fixed and organized population; to settle; to establish.
- (transitive) To introduce and establish the principles or seeds of.
- (transitive) To set up; to install; to instate.
Derived terms
- faceplant, handplant
- plant foot
- plant out
Related terms
- plantation
Translations
See also
- plant on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Further reading
- “plant”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- plant in Britannica Dictionary
- plant in Macmillan Collocations Dictionary
- plant in Sentence collocations by Cambridge Dictionary
- plant in Ozdic collocation dictionary
- plant in WordReference English Collocations
Danish
Verb
plant
- imperative of plante
Dutch
Etymology 1
From Middle Dutch plante, from Latin planta. Doublet of clan.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /plɑnt/
- Hyphenation: plant
- Rhymes: -ɑnt
Noun
plant f (plural planten, diminutive plantje n)
- plant, any member of the kingdom Plantae
- Hyponyms: boom, gewas, gras, heester, mos, struik, vaatplant
- (potentially offensive) cabbage, vegetable (person with severe brain damage)
Derived terms
Descendants
- Negerhollands: plan, plant
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /plɑnt/
- Hyphenation: plant
Verb
plant
- inflection of planten:
- first/second/third-person singular present indicative
- imperative
Etymology 3
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): (Belgium) /plɑnt/, (Netherlands) /plɛnt/
- Hyphenation: plant
Verb
plant
- inflection of plannen:
- second/third-person singular present indicative
- (archaic) plural imperative
References
French
Etymology
Deverbal from planter. Doublet of plan (“plan, map”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /plɑ̃/
- Homophones: plan, plans, plants
Noun
plant m (plural plants)
- seedling
- young plant or plantation
Derived terms
- laisser en plant
Further reading
- “plant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
German
Verb
plant
- inflection of planen:
- third-person singular present
- second-person plural present
- plural imperative
Haitian Creole
Etymology
From French plante (“plant”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /plãt/
Noun
plant
- plant (organism)
Mauritian Creole
Etymology
From French plante.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [plɑ̃t]
Noun
plant
- a plant
Verb
plant
- Medial form of plante; to plant.
Middle English
Noun
plant
- Alternative form of planete (“planet”)
Norwegian Bokmål
Verb
plant
- imperative of plante
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology 1
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /plɑnt/
Verb
plant
- imperative of planta
Etymology 2
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /plɑːnt/
Adjective
plant
- neuter singular of plan
Old Welsh
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin planta.
Noun
plant pl
- children
- (Can we add an example for this sense?)
Descendants
- Welsh: plant
- → Old Irish: cland, clann
- Middle Irish: clann
- Irish: clann
- Manx: cloan
- Scottish Gaelic: clann
- → English: clan (see there for further descendants)
- Middle Irish: clann
Swedish
Adjective
plant
- indefinite neuter singular of plan
Welsh
Etymology
From Old Welsh plant, from Latin planta.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /plant/
- Rhymes: -ant
Noun
plant m (collective, singulative plentyn)
- children, young people
- children (of parents), offspring (sometimes of animals), progeny, issue; descendants
- 1620, Revised version of William Morgan’s translation of the Bible, Joel 1:3:
- 1620, Revised version of William Morgan’s translation of the Bible, Joel 1:3:
- followers, disciples, servants
- people regarded as product of a particular place, time, event, circumstances, etc.
Derived terms
- ffon y plant (“common cattail”)
Mutation
Further reading
- R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “plant”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
West Frisian
Etymology
Ultimately from Latin planta. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.
Noun
plant c (plural planten, diminutive plantsje)
- plant
Further reading
- “plant (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011