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Glite Dictionary
tree of knowledge

tree of knowledge

1 9.8
The tree in the Garden of Eden whose fruit made Adam and Eve able to tell right from wrong
  • noun
  • Literature
translation icon : árbol del conocimiento
  • According to the Bible, the tree of knowledge was placed in the center of Eden as a test for Adam and Eve.
  • eat from the tree of knowledge

Examples

  • they say that the tree that God told Adam and Eve not to eat of, was the tree of knowledge.

    Levity (2003)

  • Adam and Eve, who had tasted the apple of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • God created everything, including the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

    Blog text (4)

  • To eat from the tree of knowledge is to understand Being, not to offend God.

    Academic text (1997)

  • Eve's sin of eating from the tree of knowledge is a perfect example.

    Blog text (30)

  • Eating from the tree of knowledge is a metaphor for humans learning agriculture, building cities, and living in structured societies.

    Blog text (19)

  • When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, "the eyes of them were both opened" (3:7).

    Academic text (1997)

  • When Adam and Eve disobeyed and ate from the tree of knowledge... the Lord banned them from the garden and hid the tree of life.

    The Fountain (2006)

  • I hold the story of Adam and Eve and "The Fall" as an allegory of our evolution from animal to human, with the inception of human consciousness represented by "eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge."

    Blog text (19)

  • In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were tempted by the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Surface Forms

tree of knowledge singular
trees of knowledge plural

Morphology

tree + of + knowledge

The phrase is compositionally interpretable — a B1 learner who knows 'tree' and 'knowledge' can infer it refers to a tree associated with knowledge. However, the specific biblical referent and its symbolic meaning (Garden of Eden, fruit granting knowledge of good and evil) are culturally specific and not fully predictable from the words alone, so prior exposure is needed.

Etymology

Tree of knowledge comes from the Bible story in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve ate fruit from a tree and then knew good and evil. So the tree of knowledge now stands for 'knowledge' or 'forbidden learning'.