plant

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A living thing that grows in the ground and has leaves and roots, such as a flower or tree.

   There was a cluster of colourful plants around the border of the garden.

2. 2
   verb

   To put seeds or young plants into the ground so they will grow.

   Let's plant flowers in the garden.

3. 3
   noun

   A factory or building where an industrial process is carried out.

   The company has production plants in three countries.

4. 4
   verb

   To put something firmly in a particular place.

   He planted his feet firmly on the ground.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Plant comes through Old English plante, “seedling,” from Latin planta, “sprout” or “cutting.” By the 18th century it had also developed senses involving placing or installing something, including the use of plant for machinery and other large equipment.

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”), Icelan…

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary