🌿 A small shrub 🍒 A red berry

checkerberry

9.9

A small spicy red berry used to make wintergreen oil

noun
/ˈtʃɛkərˌbɛri/

Specialized

: fruto de gaulteria

The checkerberry plant is valued for its flavor and medicinal oil.

Examples

Children picked checkerberry from the mossy ground and tasted the spicy fruit.
I found some checkerberries while hiking in Vermont.
We found a patch of checkerberry on our woodland walk.
Have you ever tasted checkerberries?
Children picked checkerberry from the mossy ground and tasted the spicy fruit.
The checkerberry plant is valued for its flavor and medicinal oil.
We found a patch of checkerberry on our woodland walk.

Synonyms

wintergreen

vscheckerberry

Specialized

2 8.2

A low evergreen bush with red berries and spicy-smelling leaves used to make oil

is the small spicy fruit often obtained from the shrub

teaberry

vscheckerberry

1 9.9

A low bush with strong-smelling leaves and red berries that make a mint-like oil

is specifically the small spicy fruit rather than the whole plant

boxberry

vscheckerberry

9.9

A low plant that stays green all year with shiny leaves and bright red berries that smell like mint

is the small spicy fruit rather than the whole creeping plant

spiceberry

vscheckerberry

Indian

9.9

A shrub from East Asia with bright red berries that smell spicy

is the small spicy fruit typically from other regions rather than Asia

Surface Forms

checkerberry singular

checkerberries plural

Morphology

checkerberry = checker + berry (semi-transparent) = checker + berry

The final element 'berry' clearly signals a fruit/plant, but the modifier 'checker' does not transparently describe a property that learners can predict and functions primarily as a name element.

Etymology

Checkerberry is made of checker and berry, and a helpful way to remember it is to imagine the little red fruit as a game piece from checkers or a bright red spot like a tiny square. So the name now means the spicy red fruit (also called wintergreen) that gives wintergreen oil.