European olive tree
1
3.2
- noun
- The European olive tree thrives in dry, rocky soil and warm, sunny climates.
Examples
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Farmers across Spain planted rows of European olive trees to harvest olives for oil production.
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The ancient European olive tree in their yard is believed to be over three hundred years old.
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The European olive tree thrives in sunny climates.
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Many European olive trees can be found in Spain.
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Farmers across Spain planted rows of European olive trees to harvest olives for oil production.
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The European olive tree thrives in dry, rocky soil and warm, sunny climates.
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The ancient European olive tree in their yard is believed to be over three hundred years old.
Synonyms
16
1.0
A small evergreen tree that produces edible fruit and oil
9
1.4
A small tree that keeps its leaves all year and makes olives for food and oil
1
4.7
An evergreen tree that produces olives used for food and oil
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is fully compositional: a B1 learner who knows 'European' (from Europe), 'olive' (the olive tree/fruit) and 'tree' will understand it refers to an olive tree associated with Europe/the Mediterranean. This referential, non-idiomatic combination follows straightforward noun-modifier construction common across languages, so the meaning is immediately derivable from its parts.
Etymology
European olive tree links the place and the fruit: European shows where it grows and olive is the fruit the tree gives. People in the Mediterranean used its olives for food and oil for a long time, so the name came to mean 'the tree that makes olives'.