May apple
- noun
- /meɪ ˈæpəl/
- US
:
manzana de mayo
- While May apples are safe to eat when fully ripe, the unripe fruit and other parts of the plant are toxic.
Examples
-
Jelly made from May apple has a mild, slightly tart flavor.
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The children searched the woods for ripe May apples during their hike.
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I found a ripe May apple in the woods.
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The May apples grow in clusters under the trees.
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The children searched the woods for ripe May apples during their hike.
-
Jelly made from May apple has a mild, slightly tart flavor.
-
While May apples are safe to eat when fully ripe, the unripe fruit and other parts of the plant are toxic.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'May apple' transparently combines a month name and 'apple', so a B1 learner who knows the words would likely infer it is a plant/fruit associated with May. However, the full botanical meaning — a specific North American herb with umbrella-like leaves, a poisonous root and a not-true-apple fruit — is not predictable from the constituents alone, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
May apple comes from May (the month the plant flowers) and the small round apple-like fruit it makes, so the name refers to the edible yellow fruit you find in spring.
