paper birch
- noun
- /ˈpeɪpər bɜrʧ/
- US
:
abeto de papel
- Many campers enjoy the shade provided by paper birch trees during their summer trips in the forest.
Examples
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The Kancamagus Highway reaches its high point at a mountain pass, where most of the forest consists of red spruce and balsam fir, with scattered heart-leaved paper birches.
Academic text (1998) -
Paper birch is usually found in wetter areas.
Academic text (1998) -
A trail along the lower reaches of the brook passes through a forest of red spruce, balsam fir, and paper birch.
Academic text (1998) -
In addition to balsam fir, they often host red spruce, white spruce, mountain ash, and heart-leaved paper birch.
Academic text (1998) -
Bear oak and pitch pine are the dominant trees, usually associated with bigtooth aspen, gray birch, mountain laurel, mountain maple, paper birch, and sassafras.
Academic text (2011) -
The lakes, along with sphagnum bogs and forests of red and white pine, quaking aspen, and paper birch, make up a landscape that stretches north to the southern shore of Lake Superior.
Academic text (2010) -
The beautiful white bark of the paper birch makes it ideal for artistic creations like baskets.
-
On our hike, we admired the tall paper birch trees with their distinctive peeling bark.
Synonyms
3
2.1
A tree with thin white bark that peels and slender branches
A North American birch tree with white bark that peels easily and people use to make crafts
A small North American tree with white bark that peels and is used for canoes and baskets
A North American birch tree with white bark that peels and whose bark people use to make canoes and baskets
A small North American tree with white bark that peels, used for baskets and toy canoes
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'paper birch' is a straightforward noun+noun construction where 'paper' describes a property of the birch (paper-like, peeling white bark), so a learner who knows 'paper' and 'birch' can infer it denotes a type of birch with paper-like bark. This modifier+head compounding is a common, compositional pattern in English (and similar patterns exist in other languages), making the meaning immediately predictable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
Paper birch is named for its thin, white bark that peels off in sheets like paper. People used those bark sheets to make canoes and baskets, so the name ties the birch to its 'paper' bark.