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true sago palm

true sago palm

8.9
A palm tree whose trunk gives a starchy food used for cooking
  • noun
  • Australian
translation icon : palma de sago verdadera
  • Farmers harvest sago from the true sago palm to produce cooking starch and other products.

Examples

  • The true sago palm is widely cultivated in parts of Malaysia for its starch-rich trunk.

  • The true sago palm thrives in swampy areas from Malaya to Fiji.

  • The true sago palm thrives in tropical climates.

  • Many farmers cultivate true sago palms for their starch.

  • Farmers harvest sago from the true sago palm to produce cooking starch and other products.

  • The true sago palm is widely cultivated in parts of Malaysia for its starch-rich trunk.

  • Many farmers cultivate true sago palms because their trunks provide an important source of food thickener.

Synonyms

Metroxylon sagu
vstrue sago palm
  • Specialized
9.9

A Malaysian palm tree whose soft trunk produces sago used as a food starch and to make cloth

is the everyday common name rather than the Latin scientific name

Surface Forms

Morphology

true + sago + palm

The phrase denotes a palm species that yields sago and is composed transparently from 'sago' (the starch/product) + 'palm' (the tree), with 'true' simply qualifying it as the genuine species. This is a regular modifier–noun composition found cross‑linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would be able to infer the meaning.

Etymology

True sago palm gets its name from sago, the white starchy food taken from the tree's trunk. The word sago comes from a Malay word for that starch and the word true shows this is the real palm used to make edible 'sago', so the name points to the plant's use.