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Glite Dictionary
sowbread

sowbread

9.9
A small wild plant often grown in gardens with heart-shaped leaves and pink or purple flowers
  • noun
  • /ˈsoʊˌbrɛd/
  • UK
: sowbread
  • Gardeners often plant sowbread for its attractive foliage and delicate flowers.

Examples

  • The forest floor was sprinkled with sowbread in full bloom during early spring.

  • I planted sowbread in my garden last year.

  • Wild boars are said to feed on the tubers of sowbread in its native habitat.

  • The sowbread blooms beautifully in the spring.

  • Gardeners often plant sowbread for its attractive foliage and delicate flowers.

  • The forest floor was sprinkled with sowbread in full bloom during early spring.

  • Sowbread blooms beautifully with pink flowers that attract pollinators.

Synonyms

Cyclamen hederifolium
vssowbread
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A wild European flower with pink blooms and ivy-shaped leaves that grows in woods

is the cultivated common form noted for heart-shaped leaves and ornamental use

Surface Forms

sowbread singular
sowbreads plural

Morphology

sowbread = sow + bread (opaque) = sow + bread

Although transparently formed from 'sow' + 'bread', the modern meaning 'a cyclamen plant' is a historical/metaphorical name and not directly inferable by an average B1 learner.

Etymology

Sowbread is made of sow and bread because people long ago saw pigs eat the plant's underground root bulbs, so it was like 'bread' for a sow ('female pig'). That's why sowbread now names the cyclamen plant known for its heart-shaped leaves and pretty flowers.