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wine palm

wine palm

8.6
A tall palm tree whose sweet liquid people make into a drink and sugar
  • noun
  • Indian
translation icon : palma de vino
  • The wine palm is tapped by locals to produce a sweet sap that is fermented into palm wine.

Examples

  • Craftsmen wove mats and baskets using leaves from the wine palm.

  • The hard wood of the wine palm is prized for its strength and durability.

  • The wine palm grows tall in tropical climates.

  • Many villages in Africa rely on the wine palm for sustenance.

  • The wine palm is tapped by locals to produce a sweet sap that is fermented into palm wine.

  • Craftsmen wove mats and baskets using leaves from the wine palm.

  • The hard wood of the wine palm is prized for its strength and durability.

Synonyms

lontar
vswine palm
  • Indian
9.9

A tall tropical palm tree that gives hard wood, sweet sap for sugar, and leaves for weaving

is the broader common name used for that identical tree
Borassus flabellifer
vswine palm
  • Specialized
9.9

A tall fan palm from Africa, India and Malaysia that gives hard wood, sweet sap, and leaves for weaving

is the general common name rather than the technical species label
longar palm
vswine palm
  • Indian
9.9

A tall fan palm that gives hard wood, sweet sap, and leaves for weaving

is the general name used widely instead of that regional label
palmyra
vswine palm
9.9

A tall palm tree with fan-shaped leaves that provides hard wood, sweet sap, and weaving material

is the broader name used in general contexts for this species
palmyra palm
vswine palm
8.6

A tall tree with fan-shaped leaves used for roofing and weaving, hard wood, and sweet sap used to make wine

is the general term for the same tree without stressing the fan form
toddy palm
vswine palm
  • Indian
9.2

A tall tree that gives sweet sap used to make palm wine or sugar

is the general botanical name used beyond just its drink use
sugar palm
vswine palm
  • Philippine
6.0

A large tropical palm tree whose sweet sap makes sugar and wine and whose trunk gives sago

focuses on sap, wood, and leaves without mentioning the sago product

Surface Forms

wine palm singular
wine palms plural

Morphology

wine + palm

A B1 learner who knows 'wine' (alcoholic drink) and 'palm' (a tropical tree) can readily infer that 'wine palm' refers to a type of palm associated with wine—i.e. a palm whose sap is used to make palm wine. This is a transparent compound formation common cross-linguistically (word-for-word compositional), so the meaning is predictable from the constituents.

Etymology

Wine palm is named for a simple picture: people tap a palm to collect sweet sap and turn it into wine. So the name points to the tree that makes 'palm wine' and explains why its sap, wood and leaves are useful.