noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
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"The roots of Plantain and Pellitory of Spain beaten to powder and put into hollow teeth, takes away the pains of them."
"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."
"People are now using large plantain leaves to store food — a move that has sparked mixed reactions among consumers and restaurateurs."
Any 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.
Common synonyms include: banana plant, berry, broadleaf plantain, common plantain, cooking banana, fruit.
People are now using large plantain leaves to store food — a move that has sparked mixed reactions among consumers and restaurateurs.
Pronounced /ˈplæntɪn/.
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.
From Spanish plantano (obsolete variant of plátano), from Latin platanus, from Ancient Greek πλάτανος (plátanos).