hog peanut
- noun
- US
:
cacahuete de cerdo
- The hog peanut grows wild in many areas.
Examples
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The hog peanut produces underground pods that can be eaten raw or roasted.
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The roots of the hog peanut were once an important food source for indigenous peoples.
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We found a patch of hog peanut in the shaded woods near the lake.
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Have you ever tried hog peanuts?
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While hiking in the woods, we spotted a vibrant hog peanut vine climbing up a tree.
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The hog peanut produces small pods underground that are edible and resemble peanuts.
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During our nature walk, we identified various plants, including hog peanut with its distinctive purple flowers.
Synonyms
A climbing plant with purple flowers and peanut-like edible pods
A vine that makes edible pods underground like peanuts
A small climbing plant with seeds like peanuts that grows in shady woods
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'hog peanut' is transparently built from 'hog' + 'peanut' following a common noun-noun compounding pattern, so a learner who knows both words can infer it denotes a peanut-like plant associated with hogs (or edible by hogs). While precise botanical details (vine species, underground pods) require exposure, the core referent as a peanut-like plant is directly derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
The plant hog peanut gets its name from a simple picture: it makes small, peanut-like pods (the peanut) that often grow under the soil, and hogs would dig them up and eat them (the hog). So the name links the animal and the peanut-like seed to describe this 'edible' vine.
