sweetwood bark
- noun
- UK
- Incense made from sweetwood bark is popular in some Caribbean cultures.
Examples
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The villagers collect sweetwood bark to use in traditional remedies.
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Sweetwood bark is valued for its pleasant aroma and medicinal properties.
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The sweetwood bark emits a pleasant aroma.
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Many people use sweetwood bark for its medicinal properties.
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Sweetwood bark is valued for its pleasant aroma and medicinal properties.
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Incense made from sweetwood bark is popular in some Caribbean cultures.
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The villagers collect sweetwood bark to use in traditional remedies.
Synonyms
A fragrant bark from a small shrub for making incense and health drinks
A fragrant bark from a small shrub used to make incense and health drinks
Surface Forms
Morphology
sweetwood + bark
The phrase is a straightforward compound: 'bark' (outer covering of a tree) modified by 'sweetwood' (readable as 'sweet' + 'wood', i.e. a wood that is sweet-smelling or aromatic). Although 'sweetwood' as a specific botanical name is rare, the meaning is compositionally derivable and follows common noun–noun compounding, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would infer it refers to the aromatic bark of that tree.
Etymology
Sweetwood bark may get its name from the bark's sweet smell. The words sweetwood and bark point to a sweet-smelling wood that people burned as incense and used as a tonic, so the name means 'the aromatic bark used for incense and medicine'.