plastron
/ˈplæstɹən/noun
plastron is spelled P-L-A-S-T-R-O-N: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 22 million words in written English, the 143,405th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, plastron means “The nearly flat part of the shell structure of a tortoise or other animal, similar in composition to the carapace” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of plastron is plastrons.
How many letters and syllables are in plastron?
| Letters | 8: P-L-A-S-T-R-O-N |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 22 million words; the 143,405th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is plastron?
Plastron appears about once in every 22 million words in written English, the 143,405th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce plastron?
- /ˈplæstɹən/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-plastron.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of plastron
- plastrons plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does plastron mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The nearly flat part of the shell structure of a tortoise or other animal, similar in composition to the carapace.
- 2
A half-jacket worn under the jacket for padding or for safety.
- 3
A man's shirt-bosom.
- 4
An ornamental front panel on a woman's bodice.
- 5
A breastplate.
- 6
A film of air trapped by specialized hairs against the body of an aquatic insect, and which acts as an external gill.
The plastron of a diving beetle is not directly a source of oxygen, but acts as a gill, acquiring oxygen from the surrounding water.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Plastron in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense part of the shell structure of a tortoise:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | plastrão |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does plastron come from?
Borrowed from French plastron, from Italian piastrone, augmentive of piastra (“breastplate”), from Latin emplastrum (“plaster”), from Ancient Greek ἔμπλαστρον (émplastron), from ἔμπλαστος (émplastos, “daubed, plastered”), from ἔμπλασσειν (émplassein, “to mould, form”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).