Dictionary

sensitive plant en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. (obsolete) An organism thought to be intermediate between plants and animals; a zoophyte.
2. A plant that moves in response to touch and other physical stimuli; especially Mimosa pudica, an annual plant native to Central and South America.
   • A Sensitive Plant in a garden grew, / And the young winds fed it with silver dew, / And it opened its fan-like leaves to the light, / And closed them beneath the kisses of the night. 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Sensitive Plant”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], →OCLC, part first, stanza 1, page 157:
   • The picture that was found on a bramble-bush, the new sensitive-plant, or tree, which caught the swain by the upper-garment, and presented to his ravished eyes a portrait. 1788, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary: A Fiction:
   • The heart is the true sensitive plant—revolting at a touch. 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 284:

Forms

Synonyms

sleepy plant · touch-me-not · shy plant · noli me tangere · sensitive weed · shame plant

Translations (39)

ja お辞儀草 (Mimosa pudica) · vi mắc cỡ (Mimosa pudica) · pam malamarine (Mimosa pudica) · pt dorme-dorme (Mimosa pudica) · th ไมยราบ (Mimosa pudica) · vi trinh nữ (Mimosa pudica) · ceb harupay (Mimosa pudica) · ta தொட்டாற்சிணுங்கி (Mimosa pudica) · pt sensitiva (Mimosa pudica) · as লাজুকী বন (Mimosa pudica) · ta தொட்டாற்சுருங்கி (Mimosa pudica) · ca sensitiva (Mimosa pudica) · srn sinsin (Mimosa pudica) · sv sensitiva (Mimosa pudica) · tr küskün (Mimosa pudica) · de Schamhafte Sinnpflanze (Mimosa pudica) · ms puteri malu (Mimosa pudica) · as লাজুকী লতা (Mimosa pudica) · fi tuntomimosa (Mimosa pudica) · cmn 含羞草 (Mimosa pudica) · fi tuntokasvi (Mimosa pudica) · ms semalu (Mimosa pudica) · tr küseğen (Mimosa pudica) · ru мимо́за стыдли́вая (Mimosa pudica) · ceb huyahuya (Mimosa pudica) · ta தொட்டால்வாடி (Mimosa pudica) · ms si malu (Mimosa pudica) · tr küstüm otu (Mimosa pudica) · bg срамежлива мимоза (Mimosa pudica) · pl mimoza wstydliwa (Mimosa pudica) · pl czułek wstydliwy (Mimosa pudica) · de Schampflanze (Mimosa pudica) · tl makahiya (Mimosa pudica) · vi xấu hổ (Mimosa pudica) · ml തൊട്ടാവാടി (Mimosa pudica) · ga lus cigilteach (Mimosa pudica) · id putri malu (Mimosa pudica) · ru недотро́га (Mimosa pudica) · hy պատկառուկ (Mimosa pudica)