paint leaf
- noun
- /peɪnt liːf/
- US
:
poinsettia
- The garden was full of paint leaf plants, their vivid bracts brightening the walkway.
Examples
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She researched how to care for a paint leaf after receiving one as a gift.
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During the holidays, we decorate our home with paint leaf arrangements for a festive touch.
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The paint leaf brightens up my living room.
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I bought several paint leaves for my garden.
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The garden was full of paint leaf plants, their vivid bracts brightening the walkway.
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She researched how to care for a paint leaf after receiving one as a gift.
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During the holidays, we decorate our home with paint leaf arrangements for a festive touch.
Synonyms
3
7.0
A tropical plant with bright red leaves that people put on tables at Christmas
A flowering plant with bright colored leaves around its flowers found from the southern United States to Peru
A plant from Mexico with bright red leaves used as a holiday decoration
A tropical plant with bright red leaves and poisonous milky sap
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound combines 'paint' (colored coating) with 'leaf' in a straightforward, compositional way to denote a leaf (or plant) that appears painted or brightly coloured; an average B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer this meaning even if they don't know the botanical term poinsettia. Noun–noun compounding and attributive use of a substance word (paint) to mean 'coloured/painted' is a common and transparent pattern across languages, so the overall sense is directly derivable from the parts.
Etymology
The name paint leaf comes from the plant's bright leaf that looks as if someone had used paint on it. That's why the phrase now means 'a showy poinsettia plant'.