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Glite Dictionary
🌳 A prickly tree 🌲 A tree with corky bark
cork tree

cork tree

8.3
A prickly Australian tree with soft spongy wood used in some crafts
  • noun
  • /kɔrk tri/
  • Australian
translation icon : árbol de corcho
  • The cork tree is valued for its unusually soft, spongy wood in some traditional crafts.

Examples

  • Botanists studied the cork tree to understand its adaptation to the Australian climate.

  • A row of cork trees lines the entrance to the nature reserve.

  • The cork tree is native to Australia.

  • Many cork trees grow in the coastal regions.

  • A row of cork trees lines the entrance to the nature reserve.

  • Botanists studied the cork tree to understand its adaptation to the Australian climate.

  • The cork tree is valued for its unusually soft, spongy wood in some traditional crafts.

Synonyms

Erythrina vespertilio
vscork tree
  • Australian
9.9

A prickly Australian tree with soft spongy wood and red flowers

refers to the general common tree type rather than that single species

Surface Forms

cork tree singular
cork trees plural

Morphology

cork + tree

The meaning 'a tree with corky bark' is directly and predictably composed from 'cork' (the bark material) + 'tree' (a perennial woody plant). This transparent compound follows a common noun+noun formation found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Cork tree comes from trees whose wood is soft and spongy like cork, so the name may come from that clear, cork-like feel. That's why the word refers to 'a tree with cork-like wood'.