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Glite Dictionary
black cottonwood

black cottonwood

1 6.3
A tall poplar tree with large round leaves and dark bark that grows in North America
  • noun
  • /blæk ˈkɒtənwʊd/
  • US
translation icon : álamo negro

Examples

  • He means the boulders tumbling down to Spirit Lake, stripping willows and black cottonwoods.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • The black cottonwood is known for its large rounded leaves and towering height.

  • Many birds nest in the branches of the black cottonwood tree during the spring.

  • The bark of the black cottonwood tree is dark and rough, providing a good habitat for various insects.

Synonyms

Populus trichocarpa
vsblack cottonwood
  • Specialized
9.9

A large tree that grows in western North America with shiny green leaves and silvery or rusty undersides

is a broader North American tree described by large rounded leaves and dark bark

Surface Forms

black cottonwood singular
black cottonwoods plural

Morphology

black + cottonwood

The phrase denotes a cottonwood tree that is black or dark in colour, which is directly and compositionally derived from 'black' (dark colour) + 'cottonwood' (the tree). This simple adjective + noun pattern is cross-linguistically common and involves no idiomatic or metaphorical shift, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the meaning.

Etymology

Black cottonwood comes from two clear images: the tree makes white, fluffy seeds that look like 'cotton', which gives cottonwood, and it has darker bark than other poplars, which gives black. So the name points to a tall North American poplar you can spot by its 'cotton-like' seeds and 'dark bark'.