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Glite Dictionary
🌼 A climbing flower 🌻 A yellow flower
black-eyed Susan

black-eyed Susan

1 5.1
A North American plant with yellow or orange petals and a dark center that grows in fields and gardens
  • noun
  • /ˈblækˌaɪd ˈsuːzən/
  • US
translation icon : susana de ojos negros
  • She kicked again, and the horse's legs began churning through the oat grass until the black-eyed Susans blurred into streaks of yellow.
  • wildflowers and black-eyed Susans
  • black-eyed Susans and daisies

Examples

  • "He walked to her and held out a small bouquet of wildflowers, black-eyed Susans.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Black-eyed Susan in the meadows, Indian paintbrush by the road, lady's slippers in the shady spots.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • In my garden, the bright yellow petals of the black-eyed Susan attract many butterflies.

  • During summer, the fields are filled with black-eyed Susans swaying gently in the breeze.

  • The florist arranged a beautiful bouquet featuring black-eyed Susans alongside other wildflowers.

Synonyms

Rudbeckia hirta
vsblack-eyed Susan
  • Specialized
8.8

A North American flowering plant with yellow or orange petals and a dark centre

is the common everyday name rather than the botanical label
Rudbeckia serotina
vsblack-eyed Susan
  • Specialized
9.6

A daisy-like wildflower with yellow or orange petals and a dark center, and the state flower of Maryland

is a broader term for the common garden and field plant

Surface Forms

black-eyed Susan singular
black-eyed Susans plural

Morphology

black-eyed + Susan

The modifier 'black-eyed' transparently indicates an object with a dark (black) eye/center, so a learner who knows 'black' and 'eye' can infer the visual property. However, 'Susan' is an arbitrary personal name used in the conventional name of a flower and does not itself signal 'plant' or 'flower', so the exact lexicalization (that this is the name of a specific plant) is not fully predictable without exposure.

Etymology

Black-eyed Susan likely comes from the flower's appearance: bright yellow or orange petals around a dark brown or black center make the flower look black-eyed, and the familiar name Susan was added to give the plant a simple name people could remember. That's why the name describes this cheerful wildflower with a dark center.