ring disease
- noun
- /rɪŋ dɪˈziːz/
- Specialized
- Farmers in the region are concerned about the spread of ring disease in their tomato crops, which leaves dark rings in the stems.
Examples
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Many tobacco plants showed symptoms of ring disease, including distinct dark rings in the stem tissue.
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The agricultural department issued a warning about ring disease, as it can severely damage potatoes if not controlled.
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"As if that weren't bad enough, this weevil can also carry a nematode, a tiny worm, that promotes a fungus in coconut palm trees called red ring disease.
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Synonyms
A disease caused by bacteria that makes potato and tomato stems or tubers rot in a ring
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'ring disease' is a straightforward noun+noun formation naming a disease by a salient symptom (rings). A B1 learner who knows 'ring' and 'disease' can reasonably infer it refers to a disease that produces ring-shaped symptoms (e.g., dark rings in stems); this symptom-based naming is common cross-linguistically and thus compositional and predictable.
Etymology
Ring disease is named for the dark circular rings that appear inside a plant stem when bacteria infect it. Those visible rings show the plant has a 'disease', so the name points to this plant illness.