Meanings
plural platans · alternative platane
- archaicliteraryA planetree.
A double hill ran up his furrowy forks / Beyond the thick-leaved platans of the vale.
1847, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page number, or |part=Prologue, I to VII, or conclusion)”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC1 more example
Xerxes strange Lydian love, the Platane tree, / Was lov'd for age, none being so large as shee [...].
1633, John Donne, The Autumnall
Synonyms & antonyms
nounany of several trees of the genus Platanus having thin pale bark that scales off in small plates and lobed leaves and ball-shaped heads of fruits
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Frenchplatane
- Latinplatanus
- Englishplatan
Borrowed from Latin platanus; later reborrowed from Middle French platane.
More words from Latin, Middle French
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
platan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/platan
“platan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/platan. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “platan,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/platan.
Source: platan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.