paddy field
1
2.8
- noun
- /ˈpædi fiːld/
- UK
:
arrozal
- Paddy fields figure prominently in memories of Vietnamese life and landscape.
- rice paddy fields
- green paddy fields
Examples
-
A man works in a rice paddy field near Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.
Blog text (31) -
Compost is used as a soil conditioner on paddy fields.
Academic text (1998) -
We started our small adventure with the lush green organic paddy fields.
Blog text (26) -
Even our town, which had acres of paddy fields when I was growing up, has now been run over by apartment complexes.
Blog text (2) -
There was a small vegetable patch near the entrance and huge paddy fields that didn't seem to end, lying ahead!
Blog text (26) -
We had explored most of the farm except the faraway paddy fields and coconut trees that lined the edge of the farm.
Blog text (26) -
You'll see tapioca and rice paddy fields as well as interesting villages and towns.
Academic text (1995) -
A rice farmer stands in his paddy fields near Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.
Blog text (31) -
The farmers carefully flooded the paddy field to ensure their rice plants grew well.
-
A man works in a paddy field during the warm afternoon sun, preparing for the rice harvest.
Synonyms
16
3.6
A flooded field where people grow rice
10
2.5
A flooded field where farmers grow rice
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'paddy' (land used to grow rice) combined with 'field' (a plot of land) yields 'a field used for growing rice' without any idiomatic shift. This pattern is literal and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The name paddy field comes from the Asian word 'padi' for the rice plant, which became paddy in English. It gives the clear image of a flooded field full of growing 'rice', so the phrase means a field kept wet to grow 'rice'.