water carpet
- noun
- US
:
alfombra de agua
- Botanists identified the yellowish flowers as belonging to the water carpet species native to the region.
Examples
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The rapid spread of water carpet has altered the ecosystem of several wetlands in the Midwest.
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The water carpet blooms beautifully in the summer.
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A thick layer of water carpet covered the surface of the shallow pond.
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Look at this water carpet!
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A thick layer of water carpet covered the surface of the shallow pond.
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Botanists identified the yellowish flowers as belonging to the water carpet species native to the region.
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The rapid spread of water carpet has altered the ecosystem of several wetlands in the Midwest.
Synonyms
A water plant with yellow flowers that grows at pond edges in western and central United States
A small plant with yellow flowers that grows in water and wet places in central and western United States
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is compositional: 'water' specifies the location/medium and 'carpet' evokes a dense, continuous covering. A B1 learner who knows both words can reasonably infer this refers to something that forms a carpet-like layer on water (i.e., an aquatic plant), so the meaning is directly derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
Water carpet comes from how this water plant grows across a pond: a flat, thick mat that looks like a carpet on the water. So the name came to mean a low plant that 'covers' the surface of the water.
