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Glite Dictionary
🌿 A berry bush 🫐 An edible fruit
nannyberry

nannyberry

1 8.7
A North American bush with clusters of dark blue edible berries
  • noun
  • /ˈnænibɛri/
  • US
: nannyberry
  • In late summer, the nannyberry tree is filled with dark blue fruits that attract various birds.

Examples

  • The nannyberry shrub produces clusters of small blue-black berries that are sweet and edible.

  • After the frost, I collected ripe nannyberries to make a delicious berry jam.

  • Looking about, Richard spotted the purplish-red autumn leaves of a small nannyberry tree, laden with its crop of dark blue berries.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • When I glanced back to Abbey's house, the glint of Herbert's pail flashed behind a nannyberry bush by the road.

    Fiction book (1997)

Surface Forms

nannyberry singular
nannyberries plural

Morphology

nannyberry = nanny + berry (transparent) = nanny + berry

A straightforward compound where 'berry' indicates a type of fruit and 'nanny' distinguishes the species, so learners can infer it denotes a kind of berry.

Etymology

Nannyberry names a North American shrub that produces dark, sweet fruit. A helpful way to remember it is to see nanny as 'nurse' or 'grandmother' and berry as 'small fruit', so imagine a gentle bush that gives berries to children and to birds.