plena

Borrowed from Spanish plena.

plena (countable and uncountable, plural plenas)

1. (music, uncountable) A style of Puerto Rican music having a highly syncopated rhythm and often satirical lyrics.
   • 2009 January 23, “Pop and Rock Listings”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 26 November 2022:

     This eclectic group is dedicated to preserving the Puerto Rican traditions of bomba and plena, two drum-focused (and African-derived) forms of traditional dance music.

2. (music, countable) A song in this style.

plena

1. plural of plenum

• 'plane, Alpen, Nepal, Palen, Plean, palen, panel, penal, plane

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈplɛ.nə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈplə.nə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈple.na]

plena f (plural plenes)

1. (castells) in a castell with three or five castellers per level, the column to the right of the rengla
2. (games) a game similar to bingo popular around Christmastime

   Synonyms: quina, quinto, rifla

plena f sg

1. feminine singular of ple

• pléna, plína

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *plěna, *pelena (“thin skin, thin fabric”),^[1] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“skin”).^[2]

• IPA^(key): [ˈplɛna]

plena f

1. diaper (US), nappy (UK)

   Synonym: plenka

• “plena”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “plena”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “plena”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Ultimately from Latin plēnus.^[1] Compare Latin plēnārius, Catalan ple, French plein, Ido plena, Italian pieno, Portuguese cheio, Romanian plin, Sardinian prenu, Spanish lleno.

• IPA^(key): /ˈplena/

• Audio 1:

  (file)

• Audio 2:

  (file)

• Audio 3:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ena
• Syllabification: ple‧na

plena (accusative singular plenan, plural plenaj, accusative plural plenajn)

1. full, complete
   • 1910, L. L. Zamenhof, Proverbaro Esperanta‎^[2]:

     De peko kaj mizero estas plena la tero.

     The earth is full of sin and misery.

-plena is used in many compounds to mean "full of", similar to the suffix -ful.

• malplena (“empty”)

• nuboplena (“overcast”)
• plenmano (“handful”)
• plenplena (“chock full”)

Compare Catalan ple, Esperanto plena, French plein, Italian pieno, Portuguese cheio, Romanian plin, Sardinian prenu, Spanish lleno.

plena

1. full

• vakua

plena

1. present of plenar
2. imperative of plenar

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈpɫeː.na]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈplɛː.na]

plēna

1. inflection of plēnus:
   1. nominative/vocative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

plēna

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of plēnum

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈpɫeː.naː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈplɛː.na]

plēnā

1. ablative feminine singular of plēnus

plena

1. feminine singular of pleno

• IPA^(key): /ˈplena/ [ˈple.na]
• Rhymes: -ena
• Syllabification: ple‧na

plena

1. feminine singular of pleno

Borrowed from French plaine.

plena f (plural plenas)

1. (Louisiana) a plain, pl. plains

Uncertain, but often attributed as a folk etymology to an event at which an immigrant woman to Puerto Rico from the Lesser Antilles by the name of Ana or Anna, vigorously played a rhythm on a tambourine type instrument to shouts of "Play Anna! Play Anna!".

plena f (plural plenas)

1. (Caribbean Spanish) a type of music from the island of Puerto Rico featuring a characteristic rhythm played upon frame drums called panderetas
2. (by analogy, Panama) Dancehall music, Reggae en Español
3. (by extension, Panama) A song, especially one that is catchy and/or personally preferred by the listener; a jam, a tune.

• “pleno”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025