black haw
- noun
- /blæk hɔ/
- US
:
viburno negro
- The black haw produces beautiful white flowers in the spring.
Examples
-
He is excited, genuinely excited, because here, where the native Texas prairie struggles to reclaim her footing, she has birthed a wild resurgence of rusty black haw.
Blog text (26) -
How I hold on to him does not make him feel needed or strong, but simply fits -- we are as natural in each other's environment as the resurgent black haw is to this prairie.
Blog text (26) -
We reach the edge of the rusty black haws, and a limb dripping with berries stretches out across our path.
Blog text (26) -
In the garden, the black haw stands out with its striking blue-black fruit.
-
During our hike, we spotted a black haw adorned with clusters of berries.
Synonyms
A medium shrub that loses its leaves in winter and has dark blue berries
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward color + noun compound: knowing 'black' (color) and 'haw' (a thorny shrub) lets a learner infer it refers to a haw characterized by black/dark features (e.g., fruit or bark). The composition follows a common, productive pattern in English and other languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can grasp the basic meaning even if botanical specifics require further knowledge.
Etymology
Black haw probably comes from the plant's dark berries: black shows the dark colour and haw was an old word for small 'berries', so the name points to a shrub or small tree with dark fruit.
