# plantain
## English
### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈplæntɪn/, /ˈplæn.teɪn/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (US) IPA: /ˈplæntɪn/, /ˈplæn.teɪn/
* (Caribbean) IPA: /ˈplɑːntɪn/, [ˈplaː(n)ʔn̩]
* Hyphenation: plan‧tain

### Etymology 1

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.

#### Noun

plantain (plural plantains)
* A 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.
** 1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, Folio Society, published 2007, page 225:The roots of Plantain and Pellitory of Spain beaten to powder and put into hollow teeth, takes away the pains of them.
** 2003, Ernst Jünger, translated by Michael Hofmann, Storm of Steel, Penguin, published 2004, page 41:The paths too are overgrown, but easily identified by the presence on them of round-leaved plantains.

##### Synonyms

* waybread, fleawort

##### Derived terms

* African plantain (Plantago afra)
* American plantain (Plantago rugelii)
* Asian plantain (Plantago asiatica)
* blackseed plantain (Plantago rugelii)
* blond plantain (Plantago ovata)
* bracted plantain (Plantago aristata)
* broadleaf plantain (Plantago major, Plantago rugelii)
* buck's horn plantain, buckhorn plantain, buckshorn plantain (Plantago coronopus)
* California plantain (Plantago erecta, P. hookeriana)
* common plantain (Plantago major)
* depressed plantain (Plantago depressa)
* doronic plantain (Doronicum spp.)
* dwarf plantain (Plantago erecta)
* English plantain (Plantago lanceolata)
* evergreen plantain (Plantago sempervirens)
* greater plantain (Plantago major)
* hare's foot plantain, hartshorn plantain (Plantago lagopus)
* heart-leaf plantain (Plantago cordata)
* Heller's plantain (Plantago helleri)
* hoary plantain (Plantago media; Plantago virginica)
* Indian plantain (Arnoglossum spp.; Plantago ovata, Cacalia spp.)
* mud plantain (Heteranthera spp.)
* narrowleaf plantain, narrow-leaved plantain (Plantago lanceolata)
* pale plantain (Plantago rugelii)
* plaintain moth
* plantain goldenweed (Pyrrocoma uniflora)
* plantain-leaf leopard's-bane (Doronicum plantagineum)
* plantain lily (Hosta spp.)
* plantain signal grass (Urochloa plantaginea)
* plantain water
* poor Robin's plantain (Erigeron spp.; Hieracium venosum)
* rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera spp.)
* redseed plantain
* ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata)
* Robin's plantain (Erigeron spp.; Pilosella venosa)
* Rugel's plantain (Plantago rugelii)
* sand plantain (Plantago arenaria)
* sea plantain, seaside plantain (Plantago maritima)
* Virginia plantain (Plantago virginica)
* water plantain (Alisma spp.; Baldellia spp.; Sagittaria secundifolia)
* woolly plantain (Plantago patagonica)
* Wright's plantain (Plantago wrightiana)

##### Translations
#### References

* Plantago on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* Plantago on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
* Category:Plantago on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

### Etymology 2

From Spanish plantano (obsolete variant of plátano), from Latin platanus, from Ancient Greek πλάτανος (plátanos).

#### Noun

plantain (plural plantains)
* A plant in the genus Musa, the genus that includes banana, but with lower sugar content than banana.
* The fruit of the plant, usually cooked before eating and used like potatoes.
** 2002, Edith Grossman, transl., chapter 1, in Living to Tell the Tale, translation of Vivir para contarla by Gabriel García Márquez: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.

##### Derived terms

* banana plantain
* bastard plantain (Heliconia spp.)
* bocadillo plantain
* cooking plantain
* French plantain (Musa × paradisiaca vars.)
* plantain cutter
* plantain eater (Musophagidae)
* plantain squirrel (Callosciurus notatus)
* plantain tree (Platanus spp.)
* true plantain (Musa × paradisiaca vars.)
* wild plantain (Heliconia spp.)

##### Translations
#### References

* plantain on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* Musa on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
* Category:Musa on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
* banana

### Anagrams

* plainant

## Basque
### Etymology

Eventually from Latin plantaginem, accusative of plantago.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /plantai̯n/ [plãn̪.t̪ãĩ̯n]
* Rhymes: -antai̯n, -ai̯n
* Hyphenation: plan‧tain

### Noun

plantain inan
* plantain
    Synonym: zain-belar

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “plantain”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]
* “plantain”, in Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia [General Basque Dictionary], Euskaltzaindia, 1987–2005

## French
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /plɑ̃.tɛ̃/

### Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French plantain, from Latin plantāginem.

#### Noun

plantain m (plural plantains)
* plantain, any plant of genus Plantago

### Etymology 2

From banane plantain.

#### Noun

plantain m (plural plantains)
* plantain (fruit of the genus Musa)

### Further reading

* “plantain”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Old French
### Etymology

From Latin plantāgō, plantāginem.

### Noun

plantain oblique singular, m (oblique plural plantainz, nominative singular plantainz, nominative plural plantain)
* plantain, any plant of genus Plantago

#### Descendants

* English: plantain
* French: plantain