plantain Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun 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
noun a banana tree bearing hanging clusters of edible angular greenish starchy fruits; tropics and subtropics
Musa paradisiaca; plantain tree.
noun starchy banana-like fruit; eaten (always cooked) as a staple vegetable throughout the tropics

Cf. F. plantain-arbre, plantanier, Sp. plántano, plátano; prob. same word as plane tree.

(Bot.) A treelike perennial herb (Musa paradisiaca) of tropical regions, bearing immense leaves and large clusters of the fruits called plantains. See Musa. a type of banana
The fruit of this plant. It is long and somewhat cylindrical, slightly curved, and, when ripe, soft, fleshy, and covered with a thick but tender yellowish skin. The plantain is a staple article of food in most tropical countries, especially when cooked. resembling the banana of commerce, but smaller

F., fr. L. plantago. Cf. Plant.

(Bot.) Any plant of the genus Plantago, but especially the P. major, a low herb with broad spreading radical leaves, and slender spikes of minute flowers. It is a native of Europe, but now found near the abode of civilized man in nearly all parts of the world.