plant

Where “plant” sits in English frequency

Definition

1. 1
   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.
2. 2
   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.
3. 3
   Now specifically, a multicellular eukaryote that includes chloroplasts in its cells, which have a cell wall.
4. 4
   Any creature that grows on soil or similar surfaces, including plants and fungi.
5. 5
   A factory or other industrial or institutional building or facility.
6. 6
   Machinery and other supplies and equipment, such as the kind used in heavy industry, light industry, earthmoving, or construction.
7. 7
   The equipment and work animals of a drover or other rural worker travelling through the countryside.
8. 8
   An object placed surreptitiously in order to cause suspicion to fall upon a person.
9. 9
   A stash or cache of hidden goods.
10. 10
    Anyone assigned to behave as a member of the public during a covert operation (as in a police investigation).
11. 11
    A person, placed amongst an audience, whose role is to cause confusion, laughter etc.
12. 12
    A play in which the cue ball knocks one (usually red) ball onto another, in order to pot the second; a set.
13. 13
    A young tree; a sapling; hence, a stick or staff.
14. 14
    The sole of the foot.
15. 15
    A plan; a swindle; a trick.
16. 16
    An oyster which has been bedded, in distinction from one of natural growth.
17. 17
    A young oyster suitable for transplanting.
18. 18
    A system, such as a motor, whose behaviour is being regulated or controlled by a control system.
19. 19
    A position in the street to sell from; a pitch.

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.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: lpant,palnt,plannt,plantt,platn,pllant,plnat,pplant

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of plant - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

Frequently Asked Questions