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red goosefoot

red goosefoot

9.9
A plant that lives one year with red stems that people often call a weed and that sometimes harms animals
  • noun
  • UK
: pata de ganso roja
  • Gardeners often remove red goosefoot to prevent it from competing with vegetables.

Examples

  • Farmers consider red goosefoot a troublesome weed.

  • Some wild birds feed on the seeds of red goosefoot in late summer.

  • The field was full of red goosefoot growing among the crops.

  • The red goosefoot is often found in disturbed soils.

  • Gardeners often remove red goosefoot to prevent it from competing with vegetables.

  • Some wild birds feed on the seeds of red goosefoot in late summer.

  • Farmers consider red goosefoot a troublesome weed that can damage their crops.

Synonyms

goosefoot
vsred goosefoot
  • Specialized
1 9.3

A small wild plant with triangular or diamond shaped leaves and small green flowers often seen as a weed

is the single species with reddish stems and occasional toxicity
Chenopodium
vsred goosefoot
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A group of flowering plants like goosefoot, some grown for food and others as weeds

is one specific annual species within that larger genus
Chenopodium rubrum
vsred goosefoot
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A flowering plant called red goosefoot that grows wild in Europe, Asia, and North America

is the precise scientific name used for the same plant

Surface Forms

red goosefoot singular

Morphology

red + goosefoot

This is a straightforward attributive noun phrase: 'red' simply modifies the head noun 'goosefoot', so a learner who knows both words will infer it denotes a goosefoot plant that is red or has red stems. The meaning is fully compositional and follows common cross-linguistic color + noun naming patterns, so it is immediately understandable to B1 learners who know the constituents.

Etymology

Red goosefoot gets its name from a simple picture: it has red stems and leaves that look like a goose's foot, so the parts red and goosefoot describe how it looks. So the name helps you remember that it is a reddish field 'weed' that can compete with crops and may be 'poisonous' to animals.