monkey pod
1
9.3
- noun
- /ˈmʌŋki pɒd/
- US
:
árbol de samanea
- We enjoyed our picnic under the large monkey pod, surrounded by its beautiful flowers.
Examples
-
The monkey pod tree provided a cool shade on a hot summer afternoon.
-
The branches of a monkey pod tree made great curving pathways of black into the luminal green.
Fiction book (1996) -
The shadow of the monkey pod, a passing cloud, illusion, I don't know.
Fiction book (1996) -
Farmers often plant monkey pod trees to offer shelter for livestock during the heat.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A large tropical tree with feathery leaves, bright red flower clusters and seed pods cattle eat
1
9.9
A large tropical tree with wide spreading branches and a big leafy top that gives much shade
A large tropical tree with feathery leaves, pink flower clusters, and seed pods that cattle eat
A large tropical tree with many small leaves, round pink flowers, and seed pods cattle eat
A large tropical tree with round red flower clusters and wide shade
A large tropical American tree with feathery leaves and red flowers, often called the rain tree
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound combines 'monkey' + 'pod' so a B1 learner who knows both words would likely infer some kind of pod associated with monkeys, which gives a partial cue to meaning. However, the established referent is a specific tree species (Samanea saman) rather than simply a pod, so the exact sense (a tree often called 'monkey pod') is not fully predictable from the parts alone.
Etymology
The noun monkey pod may come from watching monkeys eat or play with the tree's long seed pods, so the name came to mean 'a large shady tree with long seed pods'.