"plant" in seven languages

Meaningplant

Spanish

planta

/ˈplanta/

fem.learned

Also 'floor, storey' and 'sole of the foot'.

French

plante

/plɑ̃t/

fem.learned

Italian

pianta

/ˈpjanta/

fem.inherited

Also 'map, floor plan' and 'sole of the foot'.

Portuguese

planta

/ˈplɐ̃tɐ/

fem.learned

Inherited Portuguese turns PL- into ch-, as in chão 'floor' (PLANUM) and cheio 'full' (PLĒNUM).

Romanian

plantă

/ˈplantə/

fem.learned

Catalan

planta

/ˈplantə/

fem.inherited

Catalan keeps PL- intact in inherited words: ple 'full', pla 'flat'.

English

plant

/plænt/

from Latin/French · Latin PLANTA, taken into Old English (reinforced by French plante)

English → ItalianplantpiantaCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

PLANTAM‘sprout, cutting; sole of the foot’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

Italian shows the spoken outcome, pl → pi (pianta). Spanish planta keeps pl- because it is a learned word.

English relatives: plantation, implant, transplant, plantain