Job's tears

9.9

Shiny hard seeds from an Asian grass used as beads or food

noun
/dʒoʊbz tɪrz/

: lágrimas de Job

In some cultures, people use Job's tears as natural beads for making jewelry.

Examples

The shop sold artisanal bracelets made from polished Job's tears.
I bought a necklace made of Job's tears.
Her necklace was strung with Job's tears collected during her travels in Asia.
The artisan crafts beautiful jewelry from Job's tears.
Her necklace was strung with Job's tears collected during her travels in Asia.
In some cultures, people use Job's tears as natural beads for making jewelry.
The shop sold artisanal bracelets made from polished Job's tears.

Surface Forms

Job's tears singular

Job's tears plural

Job's tear singular

Morphology

Job's + tears

This is a lexicalized plant name (Coix lacryma-jobi) referring to hard shiny seeds; the constituents 'Job's' (a proper name) and 'tears' (drops from crying) do not compositionaly indicate a seed or bead. Because the meaning is a fixed proper noun with historical/etymological origins rather than a transparent combination of word meanings, a B1 learner who knows the parts would not reliably infer the botanical sense.

Etymology

Job's tears comes from shiny seeds that look like little tears. People used the seeds as 'beads' for necklaces and prayer beads, and because they were seen as the tears of Job from the Bible the name stuck, so today Job's tears means those hard seeds used for jewellery and food.