cat's-ear

9.9

A plant with leaves or petals that look like a cat's ear

noun
/kæts ɪr/

: oreja de gato

She picked a cat's-ear and sketched its furry-looking petals in her notebook.

Examples

I found a beautiful cat's-ear in the garden.
The cat's-ear bloomed in our garden, its delicate petals resembling the ears of a cat.
Botanists studied the unique structure of several cat's-ear species in the wild.
Do you know how to care for a cat's-ear plant?
While gardening, I noticed a beautiful cat's-ear plant with its unique, ear-shaped leaves.
The cat's-ear grows abundantly in the wild, admired for its distinctively shaped petals.
She pointed out the cat's-ear among other wildflowers, noting how its leaves resemble a cat's ear.

Synonyms

Hypochaeris radicata

vscat's-ear

Specialized

9.9

A small plant with yellow flowers that often grows in lawns

is a general name for any plant with ear-shaped leaves or petals

Hypochoeris

vscat's-ear

Specialized

9.9

A common weed with yellow flowers that looks like a dandelion

is a descriptive term for plants with ear-shaped leaves rather than a genus name

Hypochaeris

vscat's-ear

Specialized

9.9

A group of flowering plants like small dandelions with milky sap

focuses on leaf or petal shape rather than sap or taxonomy

Surface Forms

cat's-ear singular

cat's-ears plural

Morphology

cat's-ear = cat + ear (transparent) = cat + ear

A literal descriptive compound (cat + ear) where the plant is named for an ear-like shape, so the meaning is directly inferable from the parts.

Etymology

Cat's-ear is a simple English name made from cat and ear because the plant's leaves or petals look like a small, furry 'ear'. So calling it a cat's-ear gives an easy picture of its ear-shaped, soft-looking petals and helps you remember the plant.