mammee tree
- noun
- /ˈmæmi trɪ/
- US
:
mamey
- The mammee tree produces large, round fruits with sweet flesh.
Examples
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The leathery rind of the mammee tree's fruit protects it from pests.
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Have you ever tasted a mammee tree fruit?
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Farmers planted a mammee tree in the orchard to diversify their crops.
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The mammee tree produces sweet fruits.
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Farmers planted a mammee tree in the orchard to diversify their crops.
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The mammee tree produces large, round fruits with sweet flesh.
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The leathery rind of the mammee tree's fruit protects it from pests.
Synonyms
A tropical tree with sweet fruit used in jams and desserts
A tropical tree that has large fruit you can eat and gives shade
A tropical tree that produces large sweet fruit and hard wood like mahogany
A tropical tree that grows fruit you can eat
Tropical trees that make a large edible fruit with one seed
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is a straightforward noun–noun species name: 'mammee' identifies the species and 'tree' denotes it is a tree, so the meaning ('the mammee species of tree that bears edible fruit') is directly derivable from the constituents. This follows common patterns like 'apple tree' or 'oak tree' and would be clear to a B1 learner who knows both words.
Etymology
The name mammee tree may come from a Caribbean word for the fruit, 'mamey'. People named the tree after the sweet fruit mammee that grows on it. That's why mammee tree means a tree that produces a large, edible fruit with a leathery rind.
