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Glite Dictionary
rubber tree

rubber tree

2 2.8
A South American tree that gives a sticky white liquid used to make natural rubber
  • noun
  • /ˈrʌbər tri/
translation icon : árbol de caucho
  • The wild rubber tree, Hevea, grows abundantly in the Amazon rainforest.

The roots are really thick on a rubber tree.

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Examples

  • Natural rubber latex is derived from the milky white sap of the Hevea brasiliensis plant, more commonly known as the rubber tree.

    Academic text (1998)

  • It was much darker in the triple-canopy forest than beneath the rubber trees.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The rubber trees ended at the green wall of the forest.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The wild rubber tree, Hevea, is a native of the Amazon Valley.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Off to his left was an expanse of lawn that ended at a grove of rubber trees.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • They use the SAP from the rubber tree to process into actual industrial commercial rubber.

    Epic Gardening

  • Natural rubber is harvested from the sap of the rubber tree in tropical regions.

  • In South America, many farms cultivate the rubber tree to produce latex.

Synonyms

Hevea brasiliensis
vsrubber tree
  • Specialized
9.9

A tree from the Amazon that makes milky latex used for natural rubber

is the common general name rather than the formal species name
Para rubber tree
vsrubber tree
  • Specialized
7.2

A tropical tree that gives a milky sap used to make natural rubber

is the broader general term for that latex producing South American species

How Big

India-rubber tree
  • Archaic
8.4
rubber tree
2 2.8
sapling
16 2.7
seedling
20 2.8

Surface Forms

rubber tree singular
rubber trees plural

Morphology

rubber + tree

The compound is a straightforward noun+noun modifier: 'rubber' (the material) describes the kind of 'tree', so the meaning 'a tree that produces rubber' is directly derivable from the parts. This transparent compositional pattern (material + object) is common in English and cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Rubber tree The compound noun rubber tree names a tree whose sticky sap is made into rubber used for many things. People discovered that this material could 'rub' out pencil marks, so the tree is named for the useful 'rubber' it gives.