Words that start with P

A plan is a set of ideas about what you are going to do. You might plan a day out, a trip, or a project.

The people in the picture are planning a military operation.

A plane is a tool for shaving off thin layers of wood, to make something flatter or thinner. Planes are often used to make a sticky door fit better. Planes have handles on them placed so you can get the best force, and the wood itself is shaved off with an adjustable blade under the plane. Planes work best going with the grain of the wood, not across it.
As with many hand tools, you can also buy electric planes that don't require as much force to get them to work.

Planks are wide pieces of lumber. Planks are generally quite large - a smaller, thinner plank would be called a board.

Plant is a word that covers an enormous number of living things in the world. Plants can be divided up into several groups, namely algae (that green slime you find in ponds), bryophytes (non vascular plants, or mosses and lichens - the small, often fuzzy plants that you see growing on rocks or on the ground in damp corners) and tracheophytes.
Tracheophytes, or vascular plants, are the most familiar. They include all the trees, ferns, grass and flowers you see around your neighbourhood. The plant in the picture is a vascular plant, growing in a pot.

Planthoppers are a group of insects that come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but most often green and leaf-shaped. They can hop short distances like a grasshopper, hence their name.

Plaster is a white powdered substance that is made from gypsum, a kind of stone. When water is added to plaster it stays as a wet paste for a little while but then it goes hard. As it goes hard it gets hot - plaster setting is an exothermic reaction. If you are going to put plaster on your skin you should do it slowly, in thin layers or you could get burnt.
Today, plaster is most commonly used mixed with lime to line the inside walls of houses, or put into bandages to hold a broken bone in place as it heals.

Plastic wrap, also known as Glad wrap, cling wrap, cling film, Saran wrap or Stretch-Tite, is a very thin film of plastic that comes on a roll. You use it to wrap up food to keep it fresh.
Some kinds of plastic wrap come on very large rolls and are used to wrap up large things like pallets of bricks or newspaper to stop them from being damaged in transit. These kinds of plastic wrap aren't meant to be used on food.

A plateau is a wide, flat area of land that is higher than the surrounding area, often due to being neighbored by canyons or valleys on all sides.

A platform is a horizontal surface that is raised up higher than what is around it.
Platforms are commonly used at train stations so you can get into the train easier, and as a stage.

The platypus is a very unusual animal found only in Australia. It lays eggs, but it is not a bird. Platypus and echidnas are the only two animals that lay eggs. The male platypus can inject you with venom from a spur on its hind leg, but it is not related to the snake.
Platypus are found in waterways, and are very good swimmers. They grow to about half a metre long, and are dark brown with a rubbery snout, very much like a duck's beak.