mustard seed
1
4.1
- noun
- /ˈmʌstərd siːd/
- Literature
:
semilla de mostaza
- All it takes is the faith of a mustard seed, she had told her flock.
- faith of a mustard seed
- size of a mustard seed
Examples
-
At the beginning, my faith was the size of a mustard seed.
Blog text (26) -
My emotions and feelings can be all over the place; I am just asked to have faith the size of a mustard seed, faith that something could happen.
Blog text (1) -
If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, there would be no health care issues in your life.
Blog text (33) -
Best of all, you don't have to have a lot of it; just enough, the size of a mustard seed, is all you need!
Blog text (33) -
Faith the size of a mustard seed is all you need to do the things you need to do and to have the life you want to have.
Blog text (33) -
The Seekers know neither Christ nor salvation, even though all you need is the faith of a mustard seed.
Fiction book (1997) -
And yes, some will walk away sad, but still have hope that the mustard seed planted in this tough love way takes root and grows into belief.
Blog text (1) -
Having faith the size of a mustard seed can lead to remarkable changes in your life.
-
She told her students that even a tiny mustard seed of belief can grow into something significant.
-
The coach believed that a team with the faith of a mustard seed could achieve great success.
How Small
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituents 'mustard' (a plant/condiment) and 'seed' (a tiny plant part that can grow) transparently signal a very small object and the prototypical seed→growth metaphor. However, the usual figurative sense—a tiny amount of faith or a small beginning that can grow—requires a metaphorical inference or cultural knowledge (e.g. the parable) beyond simple composition, so it is only partly predictable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
Mustard seed comes from a famous Bible story where a tiny seed grows into a large plant, so it came to mean a 'small amount of faith' or a tiny idea that can grow into something big.