Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Jacob's rod

Jacob's rod

9.9
A tall plant with straight smooth stems and small yellow flowers
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : vara de Jacob
  • Gardeners prize Jacob's rod for its tall, striking stems and resilience.

Examples

  • The slender yellow flowers of the Jacob's rod brightened the edge of the meadow.

  • Botanists identified the unusual plant as a type of Jacob's rod growing wild in the area.

  • Look at that tall Jacob's rod over there!

  • We found a beautiful Jacob's rod in the garden.

  • Gardeners prize Jacob's rod for its tall, striking stems and resilience.

  • The slender yellow flowers of the Jacob's rod brightened the edge of the meadow.

  • Botanists identified the unusual plant as a type of Jacob's rod growing wild in the area.

Surface Forms

Jacob's rod singular
Jacob's rods plural

Morphology

Jacob's + rod

The element 'rod' clearly conveys a long, straight, stem-like shape, so part of the plant meaning (a rod-like stem) is inferable from the constituents. However, the possessive proper name 'Jacob's' does not indicate that the referent is a plant species and could be interpreted as simple ownership, so the full botanical meaning is not predictable to a B1 learner without prior exposure.

Etymology

Jacob's rod may come from a simple image: people thought the plant's tall, straight stem looked like a rod or 'walking stick' the man Jacob from the Bible might have carried. So today the name means 'a plant with a long, upright stem'.