PLANTAIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does plantain mean? 

• PLANTAIN (noun)
  The noun PLANTAIN has 3 senses:

1. any of numerous plants of the genus Plantago; mostly small roadside or dooryard weeds with elliptic leaves and small spikes of very small flowers; seeds of some used medicinally

2. a banana tree bearing hanging clusters of edible angular greenish starchy fruits; tropics and subtropics

3. starchy banana-like fruit; eaten (always cooked) as a staple vegetable throughout the tropics

  Familiarity information: PLANTAIN used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PLANTAIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of numerous plants of the genus Plantago; mostly small roadside or dooryard weeds with elliptic leaves and small spikes of very small flowers; seeds of some used medicinally

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("plantain" is a kind of...):

herb; herbaceous plant (a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "plantain"):

buckthorn; English plantain; narrow-leaved plantain; Plantago lanceolata; ribgrass; ribwort; ripple-grass (an Old World plantain with long narrow ribbed leaves widely established in temperate regions)

broad-leaved plantain; cart-track plant; common plantain; Plantago major; white-man's foot; whiteman's foot (common European perennial naturalized worldwide; a troublesome weed)

hoary plantain; Plantago media (widely distributed Old World perennial naturalized in North America having finely hairy leaves and inconspicuous white fragrant flowers)

fleawort; Plantago psyllium; psyllium; Spanish psyllium (plantain of Mediterranean regions whose seeds swell and become gelatinous when moist and are used as a mild laxative)

broad-leaved plantain; Plantago rugelii; rugel's plantain (North American plantain having reddish leafstalks and broad leaves)

hoary plantain; Plantago virginica (North American annual or biennial with long soft hairs on the leaves)

Holonyms ("plantain" is a member of...):

genus Plantago; Plantago (type genus of the family Plantaginaceae; large cosmopolitan genus of mostly small herbs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A banana tree bearing hanging clusters of edible angular greenish starchy fruits; tropics and subtropics

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

Musa paradisiaca; plantain; plantain tree

Hypernyms ("plantain" is a kind of...):

banana; banana tree (any of several tropical and subtropical treelike herbs of the genus Musa having a terminal crown of large entire leaves and usually bearing hanging clusters of elongated fruits)

Meronyms (parts of "plantain"):

plantain (starchy banana-like fruit; eaten (always cooked) as a staple vegetable throughout the tropics)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Starchy banana-like fruit; eaten (always cooked) as a staple vegetable throughout the tropics

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("plantain" is a kind of...):

veg; vegetable; veggie (edible seeds or roots or stems or leaves or bulbs or tubers or nonsweet fruits of any of numerous herbaceous plant)

Holonyms ("plantain" is a part of...):

Musa paradisiaca; plantain; plantain tree (a banana tree bearing hanging clusters of edible angular greenish starchy fruits; tropics and subtropics)