Plenty

How to spell plenty

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce plenty

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does plenty mean?

1. nounA large or sufficient quantity of something; an ample amount.

Plenty in a sentence

• The pantry held plenty of tinned food for the week.

• There is plenty of parking near the conference centre.

Where does plenty come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin plenitas, meaning 'fullness' or 'abundance', which was built on the adjective plenus, literally 'full'. It reached English through Old French plente during the 1100s and 1200s, originally as a noun describing a great quantity or a state of having more than enough. The same plenus root underlies a whole family of related English words, including 'plenitude', 'plentiful', 'replete', and 'complete', all of them circling around the idea of being filled up. Over time the noun also drifted into casual use as a quantifier ('plenty of room') and even an adverb ('plenty big enough'). The simple spelling rarely causes trouble, though the unstressed ending can tempt a writer toward an '-ey' or '-ie' finish rather than the correct '-ty'.

How the word is built

• plen- (from plenus: full)
• -ty (noun suffix denoting quantity or state)