From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishplantainplan‧tain /ˈplæntɪn/ noun 1 [countable, uncountable]HBPDFF a kind of banana that is cooked before it is eaten, or the plant on which it grows2 [countable]HBP a common wild plant with small green flowers and wide leaves
Examples from the Corpus
plantain• Opening the brown skin with his fingernail, Mitchell peeled a plantain and sliced the dry-smelling fruit lengthwise into strips.• Add coconut milk and plantains and cook until fruit is tender, not mushy, about 10 minutes.• Trees that bear plantain fruit and nuts.• A memory of hot suns, with grass burned brown and ripe plantains yellowing the tree of home, touched him.• He speared the plantain to one side of the pan and ladled in four globs of batter.• Species included in the new list include the Sussex Emerald Moth, the sturgeon, floating water plantain and marsh saxifrage.Origin plantain (1500-1600) Spanish plántano, from Latin platanus type of tree 