white alder
- noun
- /waɪt ˈɔːldər/
- US
:
aliso blanco
- A grove of white alders lines the banks of the creek, providing shade and beauty.
Examples
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Gardeners appreciate the white alder for its attractive racemes of flowers and rapid growth.
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The white alder blooms in late spring, filling the air with a sweet, spicy fragrance.
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The white alder grows near the river.
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I saw a beautiful white alder in the park.
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A grove of white alders lines the banks of the creek, providing shade and beauty.
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Gardeners appreciate the white alder for its attractive racemes of white flowers and rapid growth.
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The white alder blooms in late spring, filling the surrounding area with a sweet, spicy fragrance.
Synonyms
A group of shrubs and small trees that lose their leaves and have sweet-smelling white flowers
A shrub from eastern US coasts with clusters of fragrant white flowers
A bush with fragrant white flowers that bloom in summer
A shrub with sweet-smelling white flower spikes that attract insects
A bush with spikes of sweet-smelling white flowers that grows near streams and coasts and attracts bees
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is a direct adjectival modification: 'white' + 'alder' denotes an alder that is white in some respect (bark, flowers), a straightforward species/variety name. This compositional pattern is common and predictable cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
White alder gets its name from being an alder tree with pale bark and clusters of white flowers often growing by streams, so the words white and alder literally describe this kind of tree.
