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Glite Dictionary
Rheum rhabarbarum

Rheum rhabarbarum

7.8
A plant with thick edible stalks often used in cooking like pies
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : rhubarb común
  • The gardener planted several Rheum rhabarbarum crowns in the spring to harvest fresh stalks later in the season.

Examples

  • Recipes often specify Rheum rhabarbarum as the preferred variety for making traditional rhubarb pie.

  • Botanists sometimes use the name Rheum rhabarbarum instead of simply calling it rhubarb.

  • I bought some Rheum rhabarbarum at the farmer's market.

  • Did you know that Rheum rhabarbarum is often used in desserts?

  • Recipes often specify Rheum rhabarbarum as the preferred variety for making traditional rhubarb pie.

  • The gardener planted several Rheum rhabarbarum crowns in the spring to harvest fresh stalks later in the season.

  • Did you know that Rheum rhabarbarum is often used in desserts?

Synonyms

rhubarb
vsRheum rhabarbarum
14 3.5

Thick sour stalks usually cooked and sweetened for pies

is the botanical plant name rather than the culinary focus on stalks
rhubarb plant
vsRheum rhabarbarum
3.2

A garden plant that grows back every year with thick stalks you cook and eat but poisonous leaves

is the botanical name used in scientific naming rather than this descriptive label
garden rhubarb
vsRheum rhabarbarum
2.5

A plant with thick red or green stalks that taste tart and are cooked in pies

is the botanical, scientific name rather than the common plant label
pie plant
vsRheum rhabarbarum
  • Archaic
6.1

A plant with thick stems you can eat, often used in pies

is the botanical name used formally rather than the everyday label

Surface Forms

Rheum rhabarbarum singular
Rheum rhabarbarums plural

Morphology

Rheum + rhabarbarum

This is a Latin binomial (genus + species) used as a taxonomic label rather than a compositional phrase whose meaning is built from everyday English words. Knowing 'Rheum' as a plant genus and an unknown or opaque specific epithet does not let a B1 learner infer the everyday concept 'common rhubarb' or its edible use; recognizing scientific names requires extra domain knowledge. Therefore the expression is idiomatic/specialized and not transparently derivable from its parts.

Etymology

Rheum rhabarbarum may come from old names used when rhubarb first arrived in Europe; rheum was a word for plants used as a 'medicine', and rhabarbarum probably meant 'from beyond the river', showing the plant came from far away. That's why this Latin name refers to the sour stalks we call 'rhubarb' today.