Joe-Pye weed
- noun
- /ˈdʒoʊˌpaɪ wid/
- US
:
hierba de Joe-Pye
- We spotted a patch of Joe-Pye weed growing along the edge of the wetland.
Examples
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Tall blooms of Joe-Pye weed add color to the late summer landscape.
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The gardener planted Joe-Pye weed to attract butterflies to her yard.
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The Joe-Pye weed blooms beautifully in late summer.
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Many gardeners love Joe-Pye weeds for their vibrant colors.
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The gardener planted Joe-Pye weed because it thrives in moist areas and attracts butterflies.
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In the wetlands, you can see clusters of small pink flowers from Joe-Pye weed standing tall among the grasses.
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Joe-Pye weed grows up to 4 feet tall and is ideal for adding color to gardens with wet soil.
Synonyms
A tall North American wild plant with clusters of purple flowers that attract butterflies
A tall North American plant with leaves around the stem and clusters of purple-pink flowers
A tall North American plant with leaves that grow in circles and pink or purple flower clusters that attract butterflies
Surface Forms
Morphology
Joe-Pye + weed
The element 'weed' clearly signals a plant, so a learner who knows the words would infer that this is a type of plant; however 'Joe-Pye' is a proper name with no transparent lexical meaning, so the specific referent and characteristic features (tall, pink/purple flowers, moist habitats) cannot be derived. Because the compound yields the general category but not the detailed sense, it is partially predictable but not fully transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The plant Joe-Pye weed is named after a man called Joe-Pye who, one story says, made a tea from the plant to treat people with 'fever'. The word weed simply means 'plant', so the name Joe-Pye weed came to mean this tall plant with pink or purple flowers.
