# plume

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈpluːm/ · frequency rank #22,773

## Definitions
1. A feather of a bird, especially a large or showy one used as a decoration.
2. A cluster of feathers worn as an ornament, especially on a helmet; a hackle.
3. A token of honour or prowess; that on which one prides oneself; a prize or reward.
4. The vane (“flattened, web-like part”) of a feather, especially when on a quill pen or the fletching of an arrow.
5. Ellipsis of plume moth (“a small, slender moth of the family Pterophoridae”).
6. Things resembling a feather.
7. Things resembling a feather.
8. Things resembling a feather.
9. Things resembling a feather.
10. Things resembling a feather.
11. Things resembling a feather.
12. Things resembling a feather.
13. Things resembling a feather.

## Etymology
From Late Middle English plum, plume (“feather; plumage”), from Anglo-Norman plum, plume f and Middle French, Old French plume f, plome (“plumage; down used for stuffing pillows, etc.; pen, quill”) (modern French plume f (“feather; pen, quill; pen nib; (figurative) writer”)), and directly from its etymon Latin plūma f (“feather; plumage; down”) (compare Late Latin plūma f (“pen, quill”)), from Proto-Italic *plouksmā, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to fly; to flow; to run; to flap with hands; to splash”).
The English word is a doublet of pluma.

## Easily confused with
- **plus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-plus)
- **pure** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-pure)
- **pump** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-pump)
- **Pune** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-pune)
- **puke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-puke)
- **puma** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-puma)
- **prime** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-prime)
- **Pluto** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-pluto)
- **plush** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-plush)
- **plump** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-plump)
- **plums** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-plums)
- **prune** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-prune)
- **prude** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-prude)
- **plunge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-plunge)
- **plumes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-plumes)
- **Plummer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-plummer)
- **plummet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plume-vs-plummet)
- **plug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plug-vs-plume)
- **plum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plum-vs-plume)
- **place** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/place-vs-plume)

## Common misspellings (7)
`lpume`, `pllume`, `plmue`, `pluem`, `plumme`, `pplume`, `pulme`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/plume