Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Plantain |
PlantainNoun1. 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. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "plantain" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Plantago is a genus of plants commonly called plantain. Leaves are sessile, but have a narrow part near the stem which is a pseudo-petiole. They have three or five parallel veins that diverge in the wider part of the leaf. Leaves are broad or narrow, depending on the species. Inflorescences are borne on stalks and can be a short cone or a long spike. The plant is 10-20 cm tall.Common species are P. major, P. lanceolata, and P. psyllium.
Medicial Uses
The herb is astringent, antitoxic, antimicrobial, antiinflammatory, as well as demulcent, expectorant and diuretic.
Externally, a poultice of the leaves is useful for insect bites, poison ivy rashes, minor sores. In folklore it is even claimed to be able to cure snakebite.
Internally, it is used for coughs and broncitis, as a tea, tincture, or syrup.
Psyllium
Plantain seed husks expand and become mucilaginous when wet, especially those of P. psyllium, which is used in common over-the-counter bulk laxative products.
Psyllium seed is useful for constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, and diverticular disease. Recent research is also showing it to be promising in lowering cholesterol and controlling diabetes.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Plantago."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Plantain is the common name for two very different plants. The term plantain can refer to plants of the genus Plantago. Its leaves can be eaten as a potherb or in salads. To many of us it is nothing more than a common lawn weed like the dandelion or buttercup. More commonly, plantains are the hard, starchy cooking bananas of the genus Musa. They do not have the sweetness of either the familiar dessert fruit or other cooking bananas. Plantains are a staple food in the tropical regions of the world, treated in much the same way as potatoes and with a similar neutral flavour and texture when unripe. They are grown as far north as Florida, the Canary Islands, Egypt, and southern Japan, and as far south as Natal and southern Brazil. It is unknown whether plantains were grown in America before the discovery of the New World.Plantains are inedible when raw, but they can be used for cooking at any stage of ripeness. Green plantains are firm and starchy and resemble potatoes in flavour. Yellow plantains are still firm and starchy but slightly sweeter. Extremely ripe plantains are black, with a soft deep yellow pulp that is much sweeter than the earlier stages of ripeness. These black plantains can be used in sweet dishes, but they still must be cooked.
Plantains are also dried and ground into flour; banana meal forms an important foodstuff, with the following constituents: water 10.62, albuminoids 3.55, fat 1.15, carbohydrates 81.67 (more than 2/3 starch), fibre 1.15, phosphates 0.26, other salts, 1.60. The sugar is chiefly sucrose.
Plantain fruit can be brewed into an alcoholic drink. The rootstock which bears the leaves is soft and full of starch just before the flowering period, and it is sometimes used as food in Ethiopia; the young shoots of several species are cooked and eaten.
External Link:
- http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/p/plafru51.html - more information
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Plantain."
Synonym: PlantainSynonym: plantain tree (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Plantain |
| English words defined with "plantain": broad-leaved plantain, buckthorn ♦ English plantain ♦ fleawort, Funka ♦ genus Funka, genus Hosta ♦ Hartshorn plantain, Hosta ♦ Indian plantain ♦ Kemps ♦ Nape-crest, narrow-leaved plantain, narrow-leaved water plantain ♦ pisang wax, Plantago lanceolata, Plantago psyllium, Plantago rugelii, psyllium, pyxidium, pyxis ♦ ribbon-leaved water plantain, ribgrass, ribwort, ripple-grass, robin's plantain, rugel's plantain ♦ Spanish psyllium ♦ Tum-tum ♦ Waybread. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "plantain": SCHEELIA BUTYRACEA ♦ Zukurate. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Plantain" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. French (plantain), Manx (plantain ). |
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | (1) color slide shows a fried plantain (similar to a banana) sliced into small pieces. Credit: Renee Comet (photographer). |  | Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Seaside plantain - Plantago maritima at John's Pond Bog. Credit: National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERR). |
 | Far shot of Fringed Water Plantain habitat. Credit: John Craig. |  | Medium shot of Fringed Water Plantain wildflowers. Credit: John Craig. |
 | Farshot of Fringed Water Plantain wildflower. Credit: John Craig. |  | Plantain shown with snake and scorpion to indicate plant is antidote for their bites and stings; and surrounding text. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Travel | Nicaragua | Wrapped in a plantain leaf. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Plantain" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Plantain" is used about 14 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 14 | 93,893 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "plantain": common plantain ♦ english plantain ♦ Hartshorn plantain ♦ hoary plantain ♦ indian plantain ♦ mud plantain ♦ plantain cutter ♦ plantain eater ♦ plantain eaters ♦ plantain family ♦ plantain fibre ♦ plantain lily ♦ plantain squirrel ♦ plantain tree ♦ rattlesnake plantain ♦ ribwort plantain ♦ robin's plantain ♦ rugel's plantain ♦ water plantain ♦ wild plantain. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "plantain": plantain-eater, plantain-leaved pussytoes. | |
Containing "plantain": water-plantain family. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "plantain"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | gjethe delli. (various references) | |
Arabic | موز الجنة, لسان الحمل, آذان الجدي. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | вид банан, живовляк. (various references) | |
Danish | plantan, melbanan, hestebanan, glat vejbred. (various references) | |
Dutch | plantain, meelbanaan, kookbanaan, grote weegbree. (various references) | |
Farsi | موزسبز, درخت چنار (Sycamore). (various references) | |
Finnish | soikkoratamo (hoary plantain, lamb's tongue), ratamo (greater plantain), heinäratamo (narrow-leaved plantain, rib-grass), haararatamo (US whorled plantain), etiopianbanaani (Abyssinian banana, Abyssinian plantain, Bruce's banana). (various references) | |
French | plantain. (various references) | |
German | Wegerich (plaintain). (various references) | |
Greek | είδοσ βανανιάσ, αρνόγλωσσο το μείζον, αρνόγλωσσο (arnica). (various references) | |
Hebrew | לחך (fleawort). (various references) | |
Italian | piantaggine. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 車前草 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | おおば". (various references) | |
Manx | plantain, duillag Pherick, banaaney garroo. (various references) | |
Mohawk | atenneha. (various references) | |
Papago | mumshu. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | antainplay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | tanchagem. (various references) | |
Russian | подорожник (goose-grass). (various references) | |
Spanish | llantén. (various references) | |
Swedish | groblad. (various references) | |
Turkish | sinirotu, bir tür muz. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | подорожник, плодовий банан. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | MUSA, Plantago major. (various references) |
| Medieval Latin | 700-1500 | plantanus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "plantain": plantains. (additional references) | |
| |
"Plantain" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: balnain, Llangain, lointain, Pangaion, Panzani, Phantasien, plaintain, planation, planetae, plantasia, planten, planteria, plantian, Plantine, plantion, platain, plateauing, Pranatan. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "plantain" (pronounced pla"ntun) |
| 5 | -a" n t u n | Canton. |
| 4 | -n t u n | badminton, dentin, fountain, intermountain, mountain, ponton, wanton. |
| 3 | -t u n | fatten, actin, batten, beaten, begotten, biotin, bitten, Boston, boughten, Bouton, brighten, bulletin, Burton, button, capstan, captain, carton, certain, charlatan, chieftain, clandestine, cosmopolitan, cotton, craton, curtain, Dalton, dishearten, eaten, enlighten, exoskeleton, flatten, forgotten, frighten, frostbitten, gelatin, gluten, gotten, guncotton, handwritten, hearten, heighten, highfalutin, intestine, jetton, kindergarten, kitten, lighten, litten, lovastatin, Manhattan, marten, Martin, Melton, metropolitan, misbegotten, mitten, molten, mutton, nekton, Newton, overwritten, Parton, Patten, phytoplankton, piston, plankton, platen, pleasing, predestine, prolactin, puritan, rewritten, rotten, Samaritan, satin, Seton, Sexton, shorten, Singleton, skeleton, smitten, spartan, straighten, sultan, sweeten, tartan, teston, threaten, tighten, Titan, Triton, tungsten, typewritten, unbeaten, unbutton, uncertain, underwritten, unwritten, verboten, wheaten, whiten, written. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-i-l-n-n-p-t" | |
-1 letter: platina. | |
-2 letters: alanin, patina, pinata, pinnal, plaint, platan, pliant, taipan. | |
-3 letters: alant, annal, apian, inapt, lanai, lapin, liana, natal, paint, patin, pinna, pinta, plain, plait, plant. | |
-4 letters: alan, alit, anal, anil, anna, anta, anti, atap, lain, lati, linn, lint, lipa, naan, nail, nana, nipa, pail, pain, pant, pial, pian, pina, pint, pita, plan, plat. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-i-l-n-n-p-t" | |
+1 letter: planation, plantains. | |
+2 letters: antiphonal, noncapital, nonspatial, plainchant, planations, plantation. | |
+3 letters: antenuptial, antiphonals, complainant, explanation, noncapitals, plainchants, plantations, transalpine, uniparental. | |
+4 letters: antiphonally, complainants, explanations, explantation, implantation, inapparently, manipulating, manipulation, nonpractical, penalization, placentation, plastocyanin, premalignant, rataplanning, replantation. | |
+5 letters: antepenultima, encapsulating, encapsulation, explantations, implantations, inspirational, intrapersonal, manipulations, naphthylamine, nonalphabetic, noncapitalist, painstakingly, penalizations, placentations, plastocyanins, prostaglandin, replantations, supernational, supplantation, supranational, transplanting, uniparentally, unmanipulated. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Translations: Ancient | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
