Spanish lime tree

7.9

A tropical tree that produces small green fruits with sweet, juicy flesh

noun

: mamoncillo

Children eagerly gathered the ripe fruit that had fallen from the old Spanish lime tree in the backyard.

Examples

The Spanish lime tree thrives in the warm climates of the Caribbean and Central America.
Each summer, the market sells fresh fruit from the Spanish lime tree.
The Spanish lime tree is known for its sweet fruit.
Have you ever seen a Spanish lime tree?
Children eagerly gathered the ripe fruit that had fallen from the old Spanish lime tree in the backyard.
Each summer, the market sells fresh fruit from the Spanish lime tree.
The Spanish lime tree thrives in the warm climates of the Caribbean and Central America.

Synonyms

Melicocca bijugatus

vsSpanish lime tree

Specialized

9.9

A tropical tree that makes small sweet green fruits people eat

is the everyday English common name rather than the scientific label

Melicocca bijuga

vsSpanish lime tree

Specialized

9.9

A tropical tree that makes small sweet fruits with thick green skin and juicy pulp

is the general common name used instead of the botanical form

mamoncillo

vsSpanish lime tree

9.9

A small tropical tree that has sweet, juicy fruit with green skin

is the broad English common name rather than a local regional term

ginep

vsSpanish lime tree

9.9

A tropical American tree that has small sweet green fruits

is the widely used English name, not tied to a specific area

Spanish lime

vsSpanish lime tree

8.9

A tropical tree that has small green fruits with sweet juicy pulp

is the botanical or descriptive identity rather than an alternative label

genip

vsSpanish lime tree

Specialized

9.9

A tropical tree that grows small round fruits with green skin and sweet, juicy flesh

is the common English label used more broadly across regions

honey berry

vsSpanish lime tree

9.3

A tropical American tree that bears small sweet juicy fruits with green skin

is the standard everyday English name used more commonly

Surface Forms

Spanish lime tree singular

Spanish lime trees plural

Morphology

Spanish + lime + tree

The phrase is compositionally interpretable as a type of tree associated with a 'Spanish lime' — i.e. a tree that bears a particular kind of lime — so part of the meaning is recoverable from the constituents. However, the exact referent is not fully predictable because 'lime' is polysemous (citrus vs linden vs a specific tropical fruit) and 'Spanish' does not clearly convey the tropical American origin or the small sweet fruit, making the precise sense unclear to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Spanish lime tree may come from people who saw a small green fruit in places where people spoke Spanish and thought it looked like a lime, so they called the tree the Spanish lime tree. That's why the name means a tropical tree that makes a small, green, lime-like fruit.