maranta

[ muh-ran-tuh ]

/ məˈræn tə /

Save This Word!

noun

any of several tropical American plants of the genus Maranta, including arrowroot and several species cultivated as ornamentals for their variegated foliage.

QUIZ

ALL IN FAVO(U)R OF THIS BRITISH VS. AMERICAN ENGLISH QUIZ

There's an ocean of difference between the way people speak English in the US vs. the UK. Are your language skills up to the task of telling the difference? Let's find out!

Question 1 of 7

True or false? British English and American English are only different when it comes to slang words.

true

false

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of maranta

<New Latin (Linnaeus), after Bartolomeo Maranta (1500–71), Italian physician and botanist

Words nearby maranta

Marais des Cygnes, Marajó, maranatha, Maranhão, Marañón, maranta, marari, Maraş, marasca, maraschino, maraschino cherry

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use maranta in a sentence

Out of thirty-six more or less known species of the genus Maranta, thirty at least are of American origin.
Origin of Cultivated Plants|Alphonse De Candolle
Maranta had studied in the private gardens formed by Pinelli at Naples.
Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries, Vol. 1|Henry Hallam
Most of the arrow-root, the fecula of the Maranta arudinacea, sold by druggists, is a mixture of potatoe starch and arrow-root.
A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons|Fredrick Accum
Others of more or less value are species of arrowroot (Maranta) and ginger (Zingiber).
Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany|Douglas Houghton Campbell

Ten of the mixtures contained scarcely a particle of the genuine Maranta or West India arrowroot, for which they were sold.
The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom|P. L. Simmonds

British Dictionary definitions for maranta

maranta

/ (məˈræntə) /

noun

any plant of the tropical American rhizomatous genus Maranta, some species of which are grown as pot plants for their showy leaves in variegated shades of green: family Marantaceae

Word Origin for maranta

named after Bartolomea Maranti, died 1571, Venetian botanist

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012