plant: [OE] Etymologically, a plant is probably something you press into the ground with the ‘sole’ of your foot. The word was borrowed from Latin planta ‘shoot, sprout, cutting’, a derivative of the verb plantāre ‘plant, transplant’, and it has been speculated that this was based on Latin planta ‘sole of the foot’ (source of English plantain and plantigrade ‘walking on the soles of the feet’ [19]). => plan, plantain
plant (n.)
Old English plante "young tree or shrub, herb newly planted," from Latin planta "sprout, shoot, cutting" (source of Spanish planta, French plante), perhaps from *plantare "to drive in with the feet, push into the ground with the feet," from planta "sole of the foot," from nasalized form of PIE *plat- "to spread, flat" (see place (n.)).
Broader sense of "any vegetable life, vegetation generally" is first recorded 1550s. Most extended usages are from the verb, on the notion of "something planted;" such as "construction for an industrial process," 1789, at first with reference to the set-up of machinery, later also the building; also slang meaning "a spy" (1812). Many of these follow similar developments in the French form of the word. German Pflanz, Irish cland, Welsh plant are from Latin.
plant (v.)
"put in the ground to grow," Old English plantian, from Latin plantare (see plant (n.)). Reinforced by cognate Old French planter. Without reference to growing, "to insert firmly," late 14c. Of colonies from c. 1300. Figuratively, of ideas, etc., from early 15c. Meaning "to bury" is U.S. slang from U.S., 1855. Related: Planted; planting.
双语例句
1. It will produce electricity more cheaply than a nuclear plant.
它的发电成本要比核电站低。
来自柯林斯例句
2. The plant acts as a sedative in treating neuralgia.
这种植物被用作治疗神经痛时的镇静药。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Her husband laboured at the plant for 17 years.
她丈夫在厂里辛勤工作了17年。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Stand the plant in the open in a sunny, sheltered place.
把这株植物放在一个阳光充足、上方有遮盖物的开阔处。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The plant has an unpleasant odour and an acrid taste.
