plenum

See also: plénum

English

Etymology

From Latin plēnum, noun use of neuter of plēnus (“full”). The sense of "legislative meeting" is a semantic loan from Russian пле́нум (plénum, “plenary session”), from the same Latin source.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpliːnəm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈplɛnəm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːnəm
• Rhymes: -ɛnəm

Noun

plenum (plural plenums or plena)

2. (physics) A space that is completely filled with matter.
   • 1946, Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy:

     The idea was that a thing could only move into an empty place, and that, in a plenum, there are no empty places.

   • 2001, Edward Grant, God and Reason in the Middle Ages, page 176:

     The key to understanding medieval interpretations of motion in hypothetically void space is to realize that medieval natural philosophers analyzed the same bodies in the void that they discussed in the plenum of their ordinary world.

4. (figuratively) A state of fullness, a great quantity (of something).
   • 1974, Guy Davenport, Tatlin!:

     He lay on the long stone slant down to the slapping waves, his denim shorts, sneakers, and socks under his head for a pillow, feeling the splendour of distance in all directions, the liquid silence, the plenum of aloneness.

6. A legislative meeting (especially of the Communist Party) in which all members are present.
8. An enclosed space having greater than atmospheric pressure.
10. The space above a false ceiling used for cables, ducts etc.
12. (computing) A type of network cabling which satisfies plenum-ratings issued by the National Electrical Code. These cables produce less smoke and fumes in the event of fire.

Antonyms

• vacuum

Derived terms

• plenum chamber

Related terms

• plenary
• in pleno

Translations

a space that is completely filled with matter

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 充滿／充满 (zh) (chōngmǎn), 充實／充实 (zh) (chōngshí)

• Finnish: täysi tila
• Japanese: 充実 (ja) (じゅうじつ, jūjitsu)

a state of fullness, a great quantity (of something)

• Bulgarian: пълнота (bg) f (pǎlnota)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 充滿／充满 (zh) (chōngmǎn), 充實／充实 (zh) (chōngshí)

• Japanese: 充実 (ja) (じゅうじつ, jūjitsu)

a legislative meeting (especially of the Communist Party) in which all members are present

• Belarusian: пле́нум m (pljénum)
• Bulgarian: пленум m (plenum)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 全體會議／全体会议 (zh) (quántǐ huìyì), 全會／全会 (zh) (quánhuì)

• Finnish: täysistunto (fi), yleiskokous (fi)
• German: Plenum (de) n
• Greek: ολομέλεια (el) f (oloméleia)
• Japanese: 総会 (ja) (そうかい, sōkai), 全体会議 (ぜんたいかいぎ, zentaikaigi)
• Kazakh: алқалық мәжіліс (alqalyq mäjılıs), алқалық жиналыс (alqalyq jinalys), пленум (plenum)
• Korean: 총회(總會) (chonghoe)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: plenum n

  Nynorsk: plenum n

• Persian: پلنوم (fa) (plenom)
• Russian: пле́нум (ru) m (plénum)
• Spanish: pleno (es) m
• Ukrainian: пле́нум m (plénum)

enclosed space having greater than atmospheric pressure

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 高壓／高压 (zh) (gāoyā)

• Finnish: ylipainetila
• Japanese: プレナム (purenamu)

space above a false ceiling used for cables, ducts etc.

• Finnish: alakaton ontelo, alakaton yläpuolinen tila, alakaton päällä oleva tila
• Japanese: プレナム (purenamu)

type of network cabling which satisfies plenum-ratings issued by the National Electrical Code

• Japanese: プレナム

Anagrams

• lumpen

Latin

Adjective

plēnum

1. inflection of plēnus:
   1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular
   2. accusative masculine singular

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin plenum.

Noun

plenum n (definite singular plenumet, indefinite plural plena, definite plural plenaene)

1. a plenum (meeting)
2. a plenary session
3. In public; somewhere (sometime) where and when everyone's allowed: not restricted to a certain group or the like.

   Thomas Giertsen var på apoteket og kassapersonen annonserte at han hadde en soppinfeksjon høyt i plenum så alle hørte det.

   Thomas Giertsen was in the apothecary and the pharmacist announced loudly his fungal infection to those present in the shop.

References

• “plenum” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “plenum” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin plenum.

Noun

plenum n (definite singular plenumet, indefinite plural plenum, definite plural plenuma)

1. a plenum (meeting)
2. a plenary session

References

• “plenum” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Etymology

Internationalism; possibly borrowed from German Plenum, French plenum, or English plenum, ultimately from Latin plēnum. First attested in the 20th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈplɛ.num/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnum
• Syllabification: ple‧num

Noun

plenum n

1. plenum (a legislative meeting (especially of the Communist Party) in which all members are present)
2. plenum (members gathered at such a meeting)

Declension

Declension of plenum

	singular	plural
nominative	plenum	plena
genitive	plenum	plenów
dative	plenum	plenom
accusative	plenum	plena
instrumental	plenum	plenami
locative	plenum	plenach
vocative	plenum	plena

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), plenum is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 0 times in scientific texts, 25 times in news, 36 times in essays, 0 times in fiction, and 1 time in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 62 times, making it the 1058th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.

Further reading

• plenum in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• plenum in Polish dictionaries at PWN