white cypress
- noun
- US
:
ciprés blanco
- A stand of white cypress provided a welcome windbreak near the farmhouse.
Examples
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Unlike other cedars, white cypress grows slowly but can live for hundreds of years.
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The white cypress is often used in landscaping along the east coast for its hardy nature.
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The white cypress tree thrives in wetland areas.
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Is that a white cypress?
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A stand of white cypress provided a welcome windbreak near the farmhouse.
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The white cypress is commonly used in landscaping due to its resilience to adverse conditions.
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The white cypress tree grows slowly but can live for several centuries, making it a lasting addition to gardens.
Synonyms
1
4.2
A slow-growing evergreen tree with wood that smells nice and resists rot
A medium-sized slow-growing cedar tree from the east coast of the United States with scaly leaves
A medium-sized evergreen tree that grows in wet places on the eastern coast of the United States
A medium evergreen tree with strong, long-lasting wood that grows in coastal swamps of the United States
A slow-growing medium-sized evergreen tree with small flat leaves that grows along marshy East Coast shores
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward composition of 'white' (a color) + 'cypress' (a type of tree), so its meaning as a kind of cypress tree is directly derivable from the constituent words. This color + noun species-naming pattern is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words would understand it even if they lack botanical specifics.
Etymology
The name white cypress probably comes from the tree's pale bark or light-coloured wood and because it looks like a cypress, so white shows the colour and cypress shows the kind of 'tree'. That's why the name refers to a slow-growing, hardy 'tree' often used as a windbreak or in gardens.