American wormseed
- noun
- /əˈmɛrɪkən ˈwɜrmˌsid/
- US
:
semilla americana
- The strong odor of American wormseed made it easy to identify among other weeds.
Examples
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The American wormseed is often found in tropical regions.
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We found patches of American wormseed growing wild near the riverbank.
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The herbalist recommended using American wormseed for its traditional medicinal properties.
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Have you seen the American wormseeds growing in the garden?
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The herbalist recommended using American wormseed for its traditional medicinal properties.
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The strong odor of American wormseed made it easy to identify among other weeds.
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We found patches of American wormseed growing wild near the riverbank.
Synonyms
A tropical American plant with a strong, unpleasant smell
A tropical plant with a strong smell that people use to make medicine to remove intestinal worms
A herb with a strong smell used in Mexican cooking and traditional medicine
A strong-smelling herb used for cooking and in traditional medicine
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun straightforwardly combines 'American' (from the Americas) with 'wormseed' (a plant used to expel intestinal worms), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer it denotes a plant from the Americas used as a wormseed. The extra botanical descriptors (rank-smelling, goosefoot family/pigweed) add specifics but do not change this directly compositional meaning.
Etymology
American wormseed gets its name from an old folk use in the Americas: people used the plant's seeds or oil to 'expel worms'. Because the plant has a very strong smell, the name wormseed stuck and now refers to a smelly American plant once used as medicine.
