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barkless

barkless

1 6.8
A tree or branch without its outer protective covering
  • adjective
  • /ˈbɑrk.ləs/
: sin corteza
  • The barkless branches of the tree hinted at its age and the effects of the harsh winter.

Examples

  • As we walked through the forest, we noticed several barkless logs scattered on the ground.

  • The gardener cut down a tree that was barkless, revealing the pale wood underneath.

  • An enormous gray-green snake is spooled, motionless, around a barkless piece of wood.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • The teepee our mother folded up—pale, barkless sticks and patched sheets trailing from her arms as she walked back to the house.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • At one end of a log, barkless and gray, thus handy for sitting on, naked branches poked up, from which a cooking pot and three enameled cups hung by the handles, tinkling lightly as the morning breeze stirred them.

    Fiction book (2001)

Surface Forms

barkless positive

Morphology

barkless = bark (transparent) = bark + less

The adjective is a regular negative formation from the noun 'bark' meaning tree covering; learners can readily infer 'without bark'.

Etymology

Barkless is simply bark + -less, where bark is the tree's 'outer covering' and -less means 'without', so a barkless tree is like a tree without its protective jacket and is more open to damage.