Definition of plantain noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary



    BrE BrE//ˈplæntɪn//
    ; NAmE NAmE//ˈplæntɪn//
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  1. 1 [countable, uncountable] a fruit like a large banana, but less sweet, that is cooked and eaten as a vegetable See related entries: Vegetables
  2. 2 [countable] a wild plant with small green flowers and broad flat leaves that spread out close to the ground
  3. Word Origin sense 2 late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin plantago, plantagin-, from planta ‘sole of the foot’ (because of its broad flat leaves). sense 1 mid 16th cent.: from Spanish plá(n)tano, probably by assimilation of a South American word to the Spanish plá(n)tano ‘plane tree’.
See the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary entry: plantain