Indian paint
- noun
- US
:
pintura india
- The clusters of berries on the Indian paint turn bright red in autumn.
Examples
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Many gardens in North America feature Indian paint for its ornamental fruit.
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The Indian paint grows wild in many parts of North America.
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The naturalized Indian paint thrives in a variety of soil types.
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Have you seen an Indian paint plant before?
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Many gardens in North America feature Indian paint for its ornamental fruit.
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The clusters of berries on the Indian paint turn bright red in autumn.
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The naturalized Indian paint thrives in a variety of soil types.
Synonyms
A small plant that lives for one year with red berrylike fruit and edible leaves
A European annual plant with small red berries and edible leaves
A European annual plant with greenish flower clusters and small red, berry-like fruits
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although 'paint' evokes color or pigment and 'Indian' suggests an association or origin, a B1 learner who knows both words would most likely infer a type of pigment or painted object, not a perennial plant. The fact that this is the name of a plant that produces pigment is lexicalized and not predictably derived from the constituents, so it is not transparently compositional.
Etymology
Indian paint got its name because its bright red berries look like a fresh drop of paint, and early European settlers thought the colour matched paints used by Native people. So the name came to mean this plant with bright red, showy fruit.
