plantain
/ˈplæn.tɪn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.67 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any plant of the genus Plantago, with a rosette of sessile leaves about 10 cm (4") long with a narrow part instead of a petiole, and with a spike inflorescence with the flower spacing varying widely among the species. See also psyllium.
Example Sentences
- "The roots of Plantain and Pellitory of Spain beaten to powder and put into hollow teeth, takes away the pains of them."
- "The paths too are overgrown, but easily identified by the presence on them of round-leaved plantains."
- "We were sitting at the tables in the port, eating an unhurried breakfast of delicious mojarra fish from the swamp and slices of fried green plantain, when my mother resumed the offensive in her personal war."
- "She uses broccoli rabe instead of aka takana (spicy mustard greens), shops in the Caribbean markets of her Washington Heights neighborhood for batatas rather than Japanese satsumaimo (yellow sweet potatoes), and has learned to love the local mofongo, the Dominican version of mashed plantains with lots of garlic."
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English planteyne, planteyn, from Anglo-Norman plainteine et al., Old French plaintain, from Latin plantāgō, from planta (“sole of the foot”), a nasalized form of Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“flat; to spread”), because of the broad, flat shape of the plantain leaves.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *pleth₂-, planteyne, plainteine, plaintain, plantāgō, plantano
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈplæn.tɪn/
- British English: /ˈplæn.tɪn/
Inflected Forms
Phrases
African plantain
American plantain
Asian plantain
blackseed plantain
blond plantain
bracted plantain
broadleaf plantain
buck's horn plantain