overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

plant.

An organism that is not an animal, especially an organism capable of photosynthesis, and typically a small or herbaceous organism of this kind, rather than a tree.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/plɑːnt/Received-Pronunciation, Southern-England[pʰl̥ɑːnt]Received-Pronunciation, Southern-England/plɐːnt/Australia, New-Zealand, South[pʰl̥ɐ̞ːnt]Australia, New-Zealand, South
  1. An organism that is not an animal, especially an organism capable of photosynthesis, and typically a small or herbaceous organism of this kind, rather than a tree.

    The garden had a couple of trees, and a cluster of colourful plants around the border.
  2. An organism of the kingdom Plantae, and now specifically, a living organism of the Embryophyta (land plants) or of the Chlorophyta (green algae), a eukaryote that includes double-membraned chloroplasts in its cells containing chlorophyll a and b, or any organism closely related to such an organism.

  3. Now specifically, a multicellular eukaryote that includes chloroplasts in its cells, which have a cell wall.

  4. A young tree, vine, shrub, or herb; a sapling.

    obsolete
  5. Any creature that grows on soil or similar surfaces, including plants and fungi.

    proscribed
  6. A factory or other industrial or institutional building or facility.

    countable
    The company has production plants in three countries.
    My dad worked at the plant for 27 years.
  7. Machinery and other supplies and equipment, such as the kind used in heavy industry, light industry, earthmoving, or construction.

    uncountable
    industrial plant
    refrigeration plant
  8. The equipment and work animals of a drover or other rural worker travelling through the countryside.

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

    That gun’s not mine! It’s a plant! I’ve never seen it before!
  10. A stash or cache of hidden goods.

    obsolete · slang
  11. Anyone assigned to behave as a member of the public during a covert operation (as in a police investigation).

  12. A person, placed amongst an audience, whose role is to cause confusion, laughter etc.

  13. A play in which the cue ball knocks one (usually red) ball onto another, in order to pot the second; a set.

  14. The sole of the foot.

    obsolete
  15. A plan; a swindle; a trick.

    dated · slang
  16. An oyster which has been bedded, in distinction from one of natural growth.

  17. A young oyster suitable for transplanting.

    US · dialectal
  18. A system, such as a motor, whose behaviour is being regulated or controlled by a control system.

  19. A position in the street to sell from; a pitch.

    UK · obsolete · slang
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂-? Proto-Indo-European *pel-? Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-der. Proto-Indo-European *pléh₂-n̥t-eh₂ Proto-Italic *plāntā? Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂k-der. Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₂nk /*gteh₂ Proto-Italic *plānktā Latin plantabor. Proto-West Germanic *plantu Old English plante Middle English plante English plant 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”), Icelandic planta (“to plant”). The factory and machinery senses comes from the Latin sense of "any vegetable production that serves to propagate the species," which refers to something that produces.

verb/plɑːnt/Received-Pronunciation, Southern-England[pʰl̥ɑːnt]Received-Pronunciation, Southern-England/plɐːnt/Australia, New-Zealand, South[pʰl̥ɐ̞ːnt]Australia, New-Zealand, South
  1. To place (a seed or plant) in soil or other substrate in order that it may live and grow.

    ambitransitive
  2. To furnish or supply with plants.

    transitive
    to plant a garden, an orchard, or a forest
  3. To place (an object, or sometimes a person), often with the implication of intending deceit.

    transitive
    That gun’s not mine! It was planted there by the real murderer!
  4. To place or set something firmly or with conviction.

    transitive
    to plant cannon against a fort; to plant a flag; to plant one’s feet on solid ground
    Plant your feet firmly and give the rope a good tug.
  5. To place in the ground.

    transitive
  6. To engender; to generate; to set the germ of.

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

    transitive
    to plant a colony
  8. To introduce and establish the principles or seeds of.

    transitive
    to plant Christianity among the heathen
  9. To set up; to install; to instate.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂-? Proto-Indo-European *pel-? Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-der. Proto-Indo-European *pléh₂-n̥t-eh₂ Proto-Italic *plāntā? Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂k-der. Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₂nk /*gteh₂ Proto-Italic *plānktā Latin plantabor. Proto-West Germanic *plantu Old English plante Middle English plante English plant 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”), Icelandic planta (“to plant”). The factory and machinery senses comes from the Latin sense of "any vegetable production that serves to propagate the species," which refers to something that produces.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

plant has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

plant studioplant workshello, plant

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.