plenty

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Anglo-Norman plenté, from Old French plenté, from Latin plenitatem, accusative of plenitas (“fullness”), from plenus (“complete, full”), from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós (“full”) (English full, via Proto-Germanic).

Pronunciation

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• Rhymes: -ɛnti

Noun

plenty (countable and uncountable; plural plenties)

1. A more than adequate amount.

   We are lucky to live in a land of peace and plenty.

   • 1798, Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population

     During this season of distress, the discouragements to marriage, and the difficulty of rearing a family are so great that population is at a stand. In the mean time the cheapness of labour, the plenty of labourers, and the necessity of an increased industry amongst them, encourage cultivators to employ more labour upon their land, to turn up fresh soil, and to manure and improve more completely what is already in tillage

Derived terms

terms derived from plenty (noun)

horn of plenty land of plenty

plenteous plentiful

Synonyms

• abundance
• profusion

Translations

An more than adequate amount

• Arabic: كثير (ar) (kaθīr) m
• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 豊富

  Mandarin: 豊富 (cmn) (fēngfù)

• Czech: množství (cs), dost (cs)
• Dutch: overvloed (nl) m
• Esperanto: abundo (eo)
• Finnish: runsaasti (fi)
• French: abondance (fr) f
• Georgian: სიუხვე (ka) (siuxve)
• German: Fülle (de) f, Überfluss (de) m
• Greek: αφθονία (el) (afthonía) f
• Hebrew: שפע (he) m
• Hungarian: bőség (hu)

• Igbo: oke
• Irish: leordhóthain (ga) f
• Italian: abbondanza (it) f
• Japanese: 沢山 (ja) (たくさん, takusan), 豊富 (ja) (ほうふ, hōfu)
• Korean: 많음 (ko) (maneum)
• Macedonian: изобилство (mk) (izóbilstvo) n
• Portuguese: abundância (pt) f
• Romanian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: изобилие (ru) (izobílije) n
• Scottish Gaelic: pailteas (gd) m
• Spanish: abundancia (es) f
• Swedish: riklighet (sv) c
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: достаток (uk) (dostatok) m
• Volapük: bundan (vo)

Pronoun

plenty

1. A sufficient quantity. More than enough.

   We have plenty of time to have a coffee and catch the train.

   I think six eggs should be plenty for this recipe.

Adverb

plenty (not comparable)

1. More than sufficiently.

   This office is plenty big enough for our needs.

Translations

more than sufficiently or very

• Finnish: riittävästi (fi)
• Macedonian: доста (mk) (dósta), многу (mk) (mnógu)

• Swedish: rikligt (sv)

Adjective

plenty (comparative more plenty, superlative most plenty)

1. (obsolete) plentiful.
   • 1597, Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I, Act I, Scene IV:

     if reasons were as plenty as blackberries

   • 1836, The American Gardener's Magazine and Register, volume 2, page 279:

     Radishes are very plenty. Of cabbages a few heads of this year's crop have come to hand this week, and sold readily at quotations; [...]

Translations

plentiful — see plentiful

Related terms

• plenitude
• plentitude

Anagrams

• pentyl