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cream violet

cream violet

8.9
A small woodland flower with creamy white petals faintly marked with purple
  • noun
  • US
translation icon : violeta crema
  • Wild cream violets bloom in shaded woodlands each spring.

Examples

  • She pressed a cream violet between the pages of her notebook to preserve its delicate beauty.

  • The garden featured a rare cream violet among the more common purple varieties.

  • The cream violet blooms beautifully in spring.

  • I planted a cream violet in my garden.

  • The garden featured a rare cream violet among the more common purple varieties.

  • Wild cream violets bloom in shaded woodlands each spring.

  • I planted a cream violet in my garden.

Synonyms

striped violet
vscream violet
  • US
9.0

A leafy plant with white or cream flowers faintly marked with purple

is an alternative common name for the same plant
pale violet
vscream violet
  • Specialized
8.1

A small leafy plant with cream or white flowers faintly marked with purple

is another common name for the identical species
Viola striata
vscream violet
  • Specialized
9.9

A small wild violet that grows in eastern North America with pale white flowers lightly marked with purple

is the common name used for this same species

Surface Forms

cream violet singular
cream violets plural

Morphology

cream + violet

The phrase is a straightforward color + noun combination: 'cream' (a pale yellowish/white color) modifying 'violet' (the flower), so the compound denotes a violet that is cream-colored. This compositional, cross-linguistically common pattern makes the meaning directly inferable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Cream violet comes from the plant's pale, creamy flowers. The parts cream and violet are literal: cream for the colour and violet for the kind of flower, so the name means 'a violet with cream-coloured blooms'.