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Glite Dictionary
St. Barbara's herb

St. Barbara's herb

9.9
A leafy plant with yellow flowers that people grow for spicy winter salads
  • noun
  • UK
translation icon : hierba de Santa Bárbara
  • Gardeners often grow St. Barbara's herb as a hardy winter salad green.

Examples

  • In traditional cooking, St. Barbara's herb leaves are added to salads for a peppery flavor.

  • The bright yellow flowers of St. Barbara's herb are easy to spot in the wild.

  • I love adding St. Barbara's herb to my salads.

  • Have you tried using St. Barbara's herbs in your cooking?

  • Gardeners often grow St. Barbara's herb as a hardy winter salad green.

  • In traditional cooking, St. Barbara's herb leaves are added to salads for a peppery flavor.

  • I love adding St. Barbara's herb to my salads.

Synonyms

winter cress
vsSt. Barbara's herb
7.0

A leafy plant with yellow flowers eaten in winter salads

is the formal botanical genus term rather than the common name
Barbarea
vsSt. Barbara's herb
  • Specialized
9.9

A small wild leafy plant called winter cress with yellow flowers often eaten in salads

is the everyday name for the same yellow-flowered salad plants

Surface Forms

St. Barbara's herb singular
St. Barbara's herbs plural

Morphology

St. + Barbara's + herb

The phrase is a straightforward possessive name: 'St. Barbara's' (a saint's name) + 'herb' (a plant), so a B1 learner who knows 'St.'/'saint', the name 'Barbara' and 'herb' can infer it refers to a particular plant named for St. Barbara. The label does not carry an idiomatic or metaphorical meaning beyond naming, and naming plants after saints is a transparent, cross-linguistic pattern.

Etymology

St. Barbara's herb is named for St. Barbara because the plant often flowers around her 'feast day' in early winter. People began calling this hardy winter salad green St. Barbara's herb, so the name now refers to this yellow-flowered cress.