climbing bittersweet
- noun
- /ˈklaɪmɪŋ ˈbɪtərˌswit/
- US
:
bittersweet trepador
- The old fence was completely covered in climbing bittersweet, creating a beautiful display of green leaves and yellow fruits.
Examples
-
The sun shone through the chinks in the walls, where clapboards had fallen loose or been pulled down by the climbing bittersweet.
Fiction book (1999) -
The garden was full of vibrant flowers, but the most striking feature was the climbing bittersweet wrapping around the trellis.
-
As autumn approached, the climbing bittersweet produced its distinctive yellow capsules filled with brilliant red seeds.
Synonyms
1
7.4
A wild vine or climbing shrub often with poisonous berries
A climbing shrub from North America with yellow seed pods that show red seeds
A climbing North American bush with yellow pods that show bright red seeds
A climbing North American shrub with yellow pods and red seeds
A climbing plant from North America with yellow pods holding bright red seeds used for decoration
A climbing shrub with yellow seed pods that show bright red seeds
A climbing bush from North America with small yellow pods holding bright red seeds
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a transparent compound: 'climbing' describes the growth habit and 'bittersweet' names the vine/shrub, so the phrase straightforwardly denotes a bittersweet that climbs (a twining shrub). The meaning follows a common English modifier+noun pattern and is readily inferable by a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Climbing bittersweet comes from a simple picture: the plant is a vine that climbs, the part climbing shows this, and the part bittersweet points to fruit that can be both 'bitter' and 'sweet'. So the name tells you it is a climbing plant with bright yellow capsules and red seeds that people call bittersweet.