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Oriental garlic

Oriental garlic

6.0
A plant from eastern Asia like a large chive grown for its leaves and bulbs used for food
  • noun
translation icon : ajo oriental
  • Farmers in eastern Asia often cultivate Oriental garlic for both its leaves and bulbs.

Examples

  • You can substitute Oriental garlic for chives in many stir-fry dishes.

  • The chef added freshly chopped Oriental garlic to the salad for extra flavor.

  • I bought some fresh Oriental garlic at the market.

  • Have you ever tried Oriental garlic in your stir-fry?

  • Farmers in eastern Asia often cultivate Oriental garlic for both its leaves and bulbs.

  • The chef added freshly chopped Oriental garlic to the salad for extra flavor.

  • You can substitute Oriental garlic for chives in many stir-fry dishes.

Synonyms

Allium tuberosum
vsOriental garlic
  • Specialized
6.8

A herb with flat green leaves and small white flowers that people use in cooking for a mild garlic taste

is the cultivated common form valued for both leaves and bulbs
Chinese chive
vsOriental garlic
5.1

A herb with flat leaves and a mild onion taste used in Asian cooking

is grown not just for leaves but also for its edible bulbs
garlic chive
vsOriental garlic
3.5

A plant with flat leaves and a mild garlic taste used like chives in cooking

is a larger plant also cultivated for edible leaves and bulbs

Surface Forms

Morphology

oriental + garlic

The meaning is directly compositional: 'oriental' = from East Asia and 'garlic' = the edible plant, so together they denote a type of garlic native to or associated with East Asia. This simple adjective + noun pattern is cross-linguistically common and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both words.

Etymology

Oriental garlic is a name made of two parts: Oriental means 'from the East' and garlic shows it is a garlic-like plant used for its leaves and bulbs, so the name tells you it is a plant from eastern Asia that you can eat like garlic.