garlic chive

3.5

A plant with flat leaves and a mild garlic taste used like chives in cooking

noun
/ˈɡɑrlɪk tʃaɪv/

: ajo chino

When cooking, sprinkle chopped garlic chives over the dish for extra flavor.

Examples

Garlic chives add a mild garlic flavor to salads and stir-fries.
I love adding garlic chives to my salads.
Farmers at the market were selling bunches of garlic chive with their vegetables.
She sprinkled fresh garlic chive over the stir-fry for added flavor.
The recipe calls for finely chopped garlic chive as a garnish.
The recipe calls for fresh garlic chives.
You can use garlic chives as a tasty garnish on baked potatoes.

Synonyms

Allium tuberosum

vsgarlic chive

Specialized

6.8

A herb with flat green leaves and small white flowers that people use in cooking for a mild garlic taste

emphasizes its mild garlic flavor and culinary use rather than botanical classification

Chinese chive

vsgarlic chive

5.1

A herb with flat leaves and a mild onion taste used in Asian cooking

is smaller and mainly valued for a mild garlic flavor used in cooking

Surface Forms

garlic chive singular

garlic chives plural

Morphology

garlic + chive

The compound is a straightforward noun combining 'garlic' (a flavouring plant) with 'chive' (a small herb), so its meaning — a chive-like herb with a garlic flavour — is directly inferable from the constituents. This compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows normal English noun-compounding, making it immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows both words.

Etymology

Garlic chive is named from the two words garlic and chive: the plant looks like chives but has a light garlic taste when you cook it. So the name tells you it is a chive-like herb 'used to add a mild garlic flavor' in food.