marsh fern
- noun
- /mɑrʃ fɜrn/
- Specialized
:
helecho de los pantanos
- In the garden, the marsh fern added a lush green look to the shaded area.
Examples
-
The marsh fern thrives in the wet conditions of the swamp.
-
Ferns range from the delicate marsh fern to the mid-sized netted chain fern and the huge cinnamon and royal ferns.
Academic text (1998) -
During our hike, we spotted a beautiful marsh fern growing near the stream.
Synonyms
A fern with finely divided fronds that grows in marshes and other wet places in northern regions
A fern with deeply divided leaves that grows in wet places like marshes in northern regions
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a fern found in marshes/wet habitats' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'marsh' (a wetland) with 'fern' (the plant). This noun-noun compounding pattern specifying habitat or type is common in English and cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will understand the MWE.
Etymology
Marsh fern comes from a simple picture: a fern growing in a marsh, a wet area near water. So the name tells you it 'grows in wet places' and is used for this kind of fern.
