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Glite Dictionary
🧡 An orange lily 🌿 A woodland flower
wood lily

wood lily

8.8
A forest plant with three leaves at the top of the stem and one three-petaled flower
  • noun
  • /wʊd ˈlɪli/
  • US
translation icon : lirio de tres pétalos
  • The wood lily is admired for its striking three-petaled flower and elegant appearance.

Examples

  • We found a beautiful wood lily blooming near the forest edge during our hike.

  • The wood lily blooms in early spring.

  • Gardeners often look for the wood lily to add to their shade-loving plant collections.

  • I saw a beautiful wood lily in the forest.

  • Gardeners often look for the wood lily to add to their shade-loving plant collections.

  • The wood lily is admired for its striking three-petaled flower and elegant appearance.

  • We found a beautiful wood lily blooming near the forest edge during our hike.

Synonyms

trillium
vswood lily
1 9.1

A small wild plant with three leaves and one flower with three petals that grows in forests

is the regional common woodland name rather than the scientific genus term
wake-robin
vswood lily
  • US
9.9

A woodland plant with three leaves and one three-petaled flower common in North America

is used more broadly in woodland areas rather than only in North America

Surface Forms

wood lily singular
wood lilies plural

Morphology

wood + lily

The meaning 'a lily that grows in woodland areas' is directly and compositionally derived from combining 'wood' (wooded area) with 'lily' (a flowering plant). This is a straightforward noun–noun compound following a common descriptive pattern, so an average B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Wood lily comes from the sight of a simple flower on the forest floor: a lily growing in the wood with a circle of three leaves and one three-petaled bloom. So the name points to a plant called 'Trillium' that has 'three petals' and grows in the 'woods'.