FromMiddle Englishplante, fromOld Englishplante(“young tree or shrub, herb newly planted”), fromProto-West Germanic*plantu, fromLatinplanta(“sprout, shoot, cutting”). Broader sense of "any vegetable life, vegetation generally" is fromOld Frenchplante.Doublet ofclan (borrowed through Celtic languages) andplanta (directly from Latin).

The verb is fromMiddle Englishplanten, fromOld Englishplantian(“to plant”), fromLatinplantāre, later influenced byOld Frenchplanter. Compare alsoDutchplanten(“to plant”),Germanpflanzen(“to plant”),Swedishplantera(“to plant”),Icelandicplanta(“to plant”).

Thefactory andmachinery senses comes from the Latin sense of "any vegetable production that serves to propagate the species," which refers to something that produces.

• (General Australian,US,Canada,Northern England)enPR:plănt,IPA^(key):/plænt/,[pʰl̥ænt]
• (New Zealand,Received Pronunciation)enPR:plänt,IPA^(key):/plɑːnt/,[pʰl̥ɑːnt]
• (æ-tensing)IPA^(key):[pʰl̥eənt]

• Audio(US):

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• Audio(UK):

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• Hyphenation:plant
• Rhymes:-ɑːnt,-ænt

plant (pluralplants)

1. (botany) Anorganism that is not an animal, especially an organism capable of photosynthesis. Typically a small or herbaceous organism of this kind, rather than atree.

   The garden had a couple of trees, and a cluster of colourfulplants around the border.

   • 2013 May-June,Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, inAmerican Scientist, volume101, number 3, page217:

     Inplants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual. Many genes with reproductive roles also have antibacterial and immune functions, which indicate that the threat of microbial attack on the sperm or egg may be a major influence on rapid evolution during reproduction.

3. (botany) Anorganism of the kingdomPlantae. Now specifically, a living organism of theEmbryophyta (land plants) or of theChlorophyta (green algae), aeukaryote that includes double-membranedchloroplasts in its cells containingchlorophyll a andb, or any organism closely related to such an organism.
4. (ecology) Now specifically, a multicellulareukaryote that includeschloroplasts in itscells, which have a cell wall.
5. (proscribed as biologically inaccurate) Any creature thatgrows onsoil or similarsurfaces, including plants andfungi.(Can we add anexample for this sense?)
7. Afactory or other industrial or institutionalbuilding orfacility.
   • 2025 6 Jan, Dominic Coyle, “Drug giant MSD buys Wuxi’s Irish vaccines plant in €500m deal”, inThe Irish Times‎^[1], archived fromthe original on3 February 2025:

     The US group does have another vaccineplant in Ireland – in Carlow – but it is understood the Dundalk site is the only live virus vaccine facility in MSD’s Irish network.

8. An object placed surreptitiously in order to cause suspicion to fall upon a person.

   That gun’s not mine! It’s aplant! I’ve never seen it before!

9. (slang,obsolete) Astash orcache ofhiddengoods.
10. Anyone assigned to behave as a member of thepublic during a covert operation (as in a police investigation).
11. A person, placed amongst anaudience, whose role is to cause confusion, laughter etc.
12. (snooker) A play in which thecue ball knocks one (usually red) ball onto another, in order to pot the second; aset.
    • 2008 April 28, Phil Yates,The Times:

      O’Sullivan risked aplant that went badly astray, splitting the reds.

13. (uncountable)Machinery, such as the kind used inearthmoving orconstruction.
    • 2007 January 26, “HSS buys Laois tool hire business”, inRTÉ News‎^[2], archived fromthe original on3 February 2025:

      The company's product range includes tools, constructionplant, diggers, dumpers and rollers.

14. (obsolete) A young tree; a sapling; hence, a stick or staff.
    • 1694, “The Third Book ofVirgil'sGeorgicks”, inJohn Dryden, transl.,The Annual Miscellany, for the Year 1694, 2nd edition, London: Jacob Tonson, published1708,page185:

      Take, Shepherd, take aPlant of ſtubborn Oak; / And labour him with many a ſturdy ſtroke: / Or with hard Stones, demoliſh from afar / His haughty Creſt, the feat of all the War.

15. (obsolete) Thesole of thefoot.
    • 1611,Ben Jonson, “Oberon, the Faery Prince”, inThe Works of Ben Jonson, volume V, London: D. Midwinter et al., published1756,page384:

      Knotty legs, andplants of clay, / Seek for eaſe, or love delay.

16. (dated,slang) A plan; a swindle; a trick.
    • 1850 March 30,Charles Dickens, “A Detective Police Party”, inHousehold Words, volume 1,page413:

      It wasn’t a badplant that of mine, on Fikey, the man accused of forging the Sou’ Westeru Railway debentures—it was only t’ other day—because the reason why? I’ll tell you.

17. Anoyster which has beenbedded, in distinction from one of natural growth.
18. (US,dialect) A youngoyster suitable fortransplanting.
19. (control theory) The combination of process andactuator.
20. (UK,slang,obsolete) A position in the street to sell from; apitch.

The scientific definition of what organisms should be considered plants changed dramatically during the 20th century. Bacteria, algae, and fungi are no longer considered plants by those who study them. Many textbooks do not reflect the most current thinking on classification.

• (biology):Archaeplastida

• → Punjabi:ਪਲਾਂਟ(palāṇṭ)

plant (third-person singular simple presentplants,present participleplanting,simple past and past participleplanted)

1. (ambitransitive) To place (a seed or plant) insoil or othersubstrate in order that it may live and grow.
2. (transitive) To furnish or supply with plants.

   toplant a garden, an orchard, or a forest

   • 1848,Jacob Abbott, “Story I. Labour Lost.—Elky.”, inRollo at Work: Or, The Way for a Boy to Learn to be Industrious‎^[3], London: James S. Hodson, page 5:

     His father had given him a little square bed in a corner of the garden, which he hadplanted with corn two days before.

   • 1991 November 26, Don Trivette, “How Does Your Garden Grow? With Silver Bells And Mouse Button Clicks”, inPC Mag‎^[4], volume10, number20, Ziff Davis, Inc.,→ISSN, page604:

     With your mouse, youplant a garden by selecting plants from a database of 450 of the most common flowers, shrubs, and trees.

3. (transitive) To place (anobject, or sometimes a person), often with the implication of intending deceit.

   That gun’s not mine! It wasplanted there by the real murderer!

   • 1999, Terry Prone,The Skywriter, page182:

     Not only that, I thought, but cynics would now theorise that the interview piece was a PR exercise, aplanted story designed as damage-limitation in the event that some probing journalist revealed all about the love nest.

4. (transitive) To place or set something firmly or with conviction.

   toplant cannon against a fort; toplant a flag; toplant one’s feet on solid ground

   Plant your feet firmly and give the rope a good tug.

   • 2011 January 15, Sam Sheringham, “Chelsea 2 - 0 Blackburn Rovers”, inBBC‎^[5]:

     First Anelka curled a shot wide from just outside the box, then Lampardplanted a header over the bar from Bosingwa's cross.

5. (transitive) To place in the ground.
   • 1780,William Cowper, “Light Shining out of Darkneſs”, inTwenty-ſix Letters on Religious Subjects[…] To which are added Hymns[…]‎^[6], 4th edition, page252:

     God moves in a myſterious way, / His wonders to perform; / Heplants his footſteps in the ſea, / And rides upon the ſtorm.

   • 2007, Richard Laymon,Savage, page118:

     Sarah, she kissed each of her grandparents on the forehead. They wereplanted in a graveyard behind the church.

6. (transitive) To engender; to generate; to set the germ of.
   • c.1590–1592 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act IV, scene i]:

     It engenders choler,planteth anger.

7. (transitive) To furnish with a fixed and organized population; to settle; to establish.

   toplant a colony

   • 1625,Francis [Bacon], “Of Plantations”, inThe Essayes […], 3rd edition, London:[…] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret,→OCLC:

     planting of countries like planting of woods

8. (transitive) To introduce and establish the principles or seeds of.

   toplant Christianity among the heathen

9. (transitive) To set up; to install; to instate.
   • c.1593 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act III, scene vii]:

     We willplant some other in the throne.

• faceplant,handplant
• plant foot
• plant out

• plantation

•  plant on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• “plant”, inOneLook Dictionary Search.
• plant inBritannica Dictionary
• plant inMacmillan Collocations Dictionary
• plant in Sentence collocations by Cambridge Dictionary
• plant inOzdic collocation dictionary
• plant inWordReference English Collocations

plant

1. imperative ofplante

FromMiddle Dutchplante, fromLatinplanta.^[1]Doublet ofclan.

• IPA^(key):/plɑnt/

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation:plant
• Rhymes:-ɑnt

plant f (pluralplanten,diminutiveplantje n)

1. plant, any member of the kingdomPlantae

   Hyponyms:boom,gewas,gras,heester,mos,struik,vaatplant

2. (potentiallyoffensive)cabbage,vegetable(person with severe brain damage)

• Negerhollands:plan,plant

See the etymology of the correspondinglemma form.

• IPA^(key):/plɑnt/

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation:plant

plant

1. inflection ofplanten:
   1. first/second/third-personsingularpresentindicative
   2. imperative

See the etymology of the correspondinglemma form.

• IPA^(key):(Belgium)/plɑnt/,(Netherlands)/plɛnt/

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation:plant

plant

1. inflection ofplannen:
   1. second/third-personsingularpresentindicative
   2. (archaic)pluralimperative

Deverbal fromplanter.Doublet ofplan(“plan, map”).

• IPA^(key):/plɑ̃/

• Audio:

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• Homophones:plan,plans,plants

plant m (pluralplants)

1. seedling
2. youngplant orplantation

• laisser en plant

• “plant”, inTrésor de la langue française informatisé[Digitized Treasury of the French Language],2012.

plant

1. inflection ofplanen:
   1. third-personsingularpresent
   2. second-personpluralpresent
   3. pluralimperative

FromFrenchplante(“plant”).

• IPA^(key):/plãt/

plant

1. plant (organism)

FromFrenchplante.

• IPA^(key):[plɑ̃t]

plant

1. aplant

plant

1. Medial form ofplante; toplant.

plant

1. Alternative form ofplanete(“planet”)

plant

1. imperative ofplante

• IPA^(key):/plɑnt/

plant

1. imperative ofplanta

• IPA^(key):/plɑːnt/

plant

1. neutersingular ofplan

Borrowed fromLatinplanta.

plant pl

1. children

   (Can we add anexample for this sense?)

• Welsh:plant
• → Old Irish:cland,clann
  • Middle Irish:clann
    • Irish:clann
    • Manx:cloan
    • Scottish Gaelic:clann
      • → English:clan (see there for further descendants)

plant

1. indefiniteneutersingular ofplan

FromOld Welshplant, fromLatinplanta.

• IPA^(key):/plant/

• Audio:

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• Rhymes:-ant

plant m (collective,singulativeplentyn)

1. children, youngpeople
2. children(of parents),offspring(sometimes of animals),progeny,issue;descendants
   • 1620, Revised version ofWilliam Morgan’s translation of the Bible,Joel 1:3:

     Mynegwch hyn i’chplant, a’chplant i’wplant hwythau, a’uplant hwythau i genhedlaeth arall.

     Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. (KJV)

3. followers,disciples,servants
4. people regarded as product of a particular place, time, event, circumstances, etc.

• ffon y plant(“common cattail”)

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “plant”, inGeiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Ultimately fromLatinplanta.Thisetymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

plant c (pluralplanten,diminutiveplantsje)

1. plant

• “plant (I)”, inWurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch),2011