wych elm
- noun
- /wɪtʃ ɛlm/
- UK
:
olmo de bruja
- We enjoyed a picnic beneath the sprawling branches of a majestic wych elm.
Examples
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The children played in the shade of the tall wych elm in the park.
-
He lay dead, not a mark upon him, face down under the wych elm.
Fiction book (2002) -
The wych elm is known for its broad leaves and is commonly used as a shade tree.
Synonyms
A large elm tree often planted in parks and gardens for shade
An elm tree with broad leaves and hard wood that grows in Europe and western Asia
A European elm tree with wide branches used for shade
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'wych elm' is a regular noun+noun taxonomic formation where the first element specifies a variety of elm; a learner who knows 'wych' (an elm) and 'elm' will infer it denotes a species of elm. This compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common for plant names, so the meaning is directly derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
Wych elm may come from an old word meaning 'flexible' because this elm has long, bendy branches that people used for baskets and hoops. That's why the word wych, meaning 'flexible', became part of the tree's name.
