Words that start with P

A plague is a widespread outbreak of disease or something else bad, such as a plague of locusts. Plagues cause a lot of death or damage.

Something is plaintive if it has a sad, mournful tone to it.

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.

A planet is a large body that orbits a sun. Planets, unlike suns, do not give off light. Our solar system has eight planets, nine including pluto. They are:

• Mercury
• Venus
• Earth
• Mars
• Jupiter
• Saturn
• Uranus
• Neptune
• Pluto (dwarf planet)

Plankton are tiny organisms, either plants, animals or bacteria that drift around in the sea. Plankton are a very important food source for larger sea creatures that eat them.