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Glite Dictionary
giant puffball

giant puffball

6.7
A large round white mushroom people eat when it is young
  • noun
  • /ˈdʒaɪənt ˈpʌfˌbɔl/
translation icon : puffball gigante
  • You can make a delicious stir-fry using diced giant puffball along with your favorite vegetables.

Examples

  • During the autumn hike, she spotted a giant puffball growing under the old oak tree.

  • The chef sliced the giant puffball and fried it for a unique, mushroom-flavored dish.

  • We found a giant puffball in the field, and it was nearly the size of a basketball.

  • I found a giant puffball in the forest.

  • Have you ever tasted a giant puffball?

  • To enjoy the best flavor, slice a giant puffball and sauté it in olive oil.

  • A giant puffball can weigh several pounds and is often found in fields and forests.

Synonyms

Calvatia gigantea
vsgiant puffball
  • Specialized
9.9

A large edible round mushroom that can grow up to two feet wide

is the common descriptive name for same fungus focusing on shape and youth edibility

Surface Forms

giant puffball singular
giant puffballs plural

Morphology

giant + puffball

The meaning 'a very large puffball fungus' is directly and transparently built from 'giant' (very large) modifying 'puffball' (a fungus that releases spores). This is a straightforward adjective + noun composition common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Giant puffball is named for what it looks like and what it does: giant shows its very large size, and puffball describes a round white mushroom that 'puffs' out a cloud of dust when you touch it. So the name helps you remember it is a very large fungus that you can 'eat' when young.