paper white
- noun
- /ˈpeɪpər waɪt/
:
narciso papel
- The gardener showcased beautiful paper whites in her living room, filling the space with their lovely fragrance during winter.
Examples
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For the holiday season, they decorated their home with pots of paper whites, bringing a touch of spring to the winter months.
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Instead of a coffee table, three granite squares held several art books, a bowl of paper whites, and a primitive iron sculpture of a creation scene that Diana recognized as Haitian art.
Fiction book (1996) -
Every year, we enjoy watching the paper whites bloom indoors, brightening our home with their star-shaped white flowers.
Synonyms
A white daffodil with star-shaped flowers often grown indoors for winter blooms
Surface Forms
Morphology
paper + white
Although the parts 'paper' and 'white' evoke a color description, the compound refers to a specific daffodil cultivar (paperwhite) rather than a literal 'white paper' or simply whiteness; a B1 learner who knows the words would not predict the plant meaning. This is a lexicalized plant name whose overall meaning is not derivable from its constituents, so it is opaque to learners.
Etymology
Paper white may come from the thin, almost paper petals and the bright white colour of its blooms that look very delicate. So, paper white refers to that kind of 'daffodil' people often grow indoors in winter.
