"plain Jane" meaning in English

See plain Jane in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: plain Janes [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} plain Jane (plural plain Janes)
  1. (informal) A young woman or girl of average or unremarkable appearance. Tags: informal Categories (topical): Appearance, People, Personality Translations (young woman of average or unremarkable appearance): graue Maus [feminine] (German), unscheinbares Mädchen [neuter] (German), farbloses junges Mädchen [neuter] (German), szara mysz [feminine] (Polish), се́рая мышь (séraja myšʹ) [feminine] (Russian)
    Sense id: en-plain_Jane-en-noun-BLVKs4nC Disambiguation of Appearance: 98 2 Disambiguation of People: 100 0 Disambiguation of Personality: 88 12 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English rhyming compounds, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with German translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Russian translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 95 5 Disambiguation of English rhyming compounds: 70 30 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 93 7 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 93 7 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 94 6 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 90 10 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 92 8 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 93 7 Related terms: Alibi Ike, Dapper Dan, doubting Thomas, Gentleman Jim, gloomy Gus, good-time Charlie, nervous Nellie, sad sack, Silent Sam, average Joe, regular Joe Disambiguation of 'young woman of average or unremarkable appearance': 97 3
  2. (informal, attributive) Something basic and ordinary. Tags: attributive, informal
    Sense id: en-plain_Jane-en-noun-KdsHEbJ4

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plain Janes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "plain Jane (plural plain Janes)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "95 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "70 30",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English rhyming compounds",
          "parents": [
            "Rhyming compounds",
            "Compound terms",
            "Rhyming phrases",
            "Terms by etymology",
            "Phrases",
            "Lemmas",
            "Multiword terms"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "93 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "93 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "94 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "90 10",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "92 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "93 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "98 2",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Appearance",
          "orig": "en:Appearance",
          "parents": [
            "Perception",
            "Body",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "100 0",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "88 12",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Personality",
          "orig": "en:Personality",
          "parents": [
            "Mind",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1954 November, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, volume 8, number 11, page 46:",
          "text": "Charm school instructors […] can do something even for the plainest of plain Janes.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A young woman or girl of average or unremarkable appearance."
      ],
      "id": "en-plain_Jane-en-noun-BLVKs4nC",
      "links": [
        [
          "young",
          "young"
        ],
        [
          "woman",
          "woman"
        ],
        [
          "girl",
          "girl"
        ],
        [
          "average",
          "average"
        ],
        [
          "unremarkable",
          "unremarkable"
        ],
        [
          "appearance",
          "appearance"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) A young woman or girl of average or unremarkable appearance."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "word": "Alibi Ike"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "word": "Dapper Dan"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "word": "doubting Thomas"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "word": "Gentleman Jim"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "word": "gloomy Gus"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "word": "good-time Charlie"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "word": "nervous Nellie"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "word": "sad sack"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "word": "Silent Sam"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "word": "average Joe"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "100 0",
          "word": "regular Joe"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "young woman of average or unremarkable appearance",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "graue Maus"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "young woman of average or unremarkable appearance",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "unscheinbares Mädchen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "young woman of average or unremarkable appearance",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "farbloses junges Mädchen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "young woman of average or unremarkable appearance",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "szara mysz"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "97 3",
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "séraja myšʹ",
          "sense": "young woman of average or unremarkable appearance",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "се́рая мышь"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1989, William S. Brophy, Marlin Firearms, page 320:",
          "text": "Many of the early models had both a \"plain Jane\" model with open sights and a Deluxe (DL) version that had an aperture rear sight and a hooded target-type front sight-and, in some cases, sling swivels.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something basic and ordinary."
      ],
      "id": "en-plain_Jane-en-noun-KdsHEbJ4",
      "links": [
        [
          "basic",
          "basic"
        ],
        [
          "ordinary",
          "ordinary"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, attributive) Something basic and ordinary."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "attributive",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "plain Jane"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English eponyms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English rhyming compounds",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "en:Appearance",
    "en:People",
    "en:Personality"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plain Janes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "plain Jane (plural plain Janes)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "Alibi Ike"
    },
    {
      "word": "Dapper Dan"
    },
    {
      "word": "doubting Thomas"
    },
    {
      "word": "Gentleman Jim"
    },
    {
      "word": "gloomy Gus"
    },
    {
      "word": "good-time Charlie"
    },
    {
      "word": "nervous Nellie"
    },
    {
      "word": "sad sack"
    },
    {
      "word": "Silent Sam"
    },
    {
      "word": "average Joe"
    },
    {
      "word": "regular Joe"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1954 November, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, volume 8, number 11, page 46:",
          "text": "Charm school instructors […] can do something even for the plainest of plain Janes.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A young woman or girl of average or unremarkable appearance."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "young",
          "young"
        ],
        [
          "woman",
          "woman"
        ],
        [
          "girl",
          "girl"
        ],
        [
          "average",
          "average"
        ],
        [
          "unremarkable",
          "unremarkable"
        ],
        [
          "appearance",
          "appearance"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) A young woman or girl of average or unremarkable appearance."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1989, William S. Brophy, Marlin Firearms, page 320:",
          "text": "Many of the early models had both a \"plain Jane\" model with open sights and a Deluxe (DL) version that had an aperture rear sight and a hooded target-type front sight-and, in some cases, sling swivels.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something basic and ordinary."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "basic",
          "basic"
        ],
        [
          "ordinary",
          "ordinary"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, attributive) Something basic and ordinary."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "attributive",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "young woman of average or unremarkable appearance",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "graue Maus"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "young woman of average or unremarkable appearance",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "unscheinbares Mädchen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "young woman of average or unremarkable appearance",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "farbloses junges Mädchen"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "young woman of average or unremarkable appearance",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "szara mysz"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "séraja myšʹ",
      "sense": "young woman of average or unremarkable appearance",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "се́рая мышь"
    }
  ],
  "word": "plain Jane"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.