silkworm seed

7.6

Eggs of the insect that makes silk, used to start silk farming

noun

Specialized

: huevo de gusano de seda

The quality of the silkworm seed greatly affects the production of silk.

Examples

She ordered fresh silkworm seed from a reliable supplier for the new season.
Farmers store silkworm seed carefully to ensure a healthy silk harvest.
The farmer purchased silkworm seeds for the next harvest.
Many silkworm seeds are needed to produce silk.
Farmers store silkworm seed carefully to ensure a healthy silk harvest.
She ordered fresh silkworm seed from a reliable supplier for the new season.
The quality of the silkworm seed greatly affects the production of silk.

Surface Forms

silkworm seed singular

silkworm seeds plural

Morphology

silkworm + seed

The compound 'silkworm seed' transparently signals a reproductive/starting unit associated with silkworms, so a learner can infer it refers to the material used to start silkworm rearing. However, the headword 'seed' is prototypically a plant term and here denotes eggs, a metaphorical or domain-specific extension that may not be immediately obvious to all B1 learners without context or prior exposure. Because the meaning is inferable but requires mapping 'seed' from plants to animal eggs, the expression is best classified as partially transparent.

Etymology

Silkworm seed compares tiny silkworm eggs to plant seeds because farmers 'plant' these eggs to grow many silkworms for silk. So it means 'the eggs of a silkworm used to start making silk'.