Urtica dioica
- noun
- /ˈɜrtɪkə daɪˈoʊɪkə/
- Specialized
:
Urtica dioica
- The leaves of Urtica dioica can cause skin irritation if touched without protection.
Examples
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Many herbal teas use dried Urtica dioica for its traditional health benefits.
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Botanists studied the spread of Urtica dioica in North American forests.
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The leaves of Urtica dioica are often used in herbal remedies.
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In spring, Urtica dioica sprouts new growth rapidly.
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Many herbal teas use dried Urtica dioica for its traditional health benefits.
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The leaves of Urtica dioica can cause skin irritation if touched without protection.
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In spring, Urtica dioica sprouts new growth rapidly.
Synonyms
1
4.6
A plant with leaves that have tiny hairs which make your skin feel hot and sore when touched
Surface Forms
Morphology
Urtica + dioica
This is a Latin binomial (scientific name) rather than a descriptive phrase in English; the overall referent 'stinging nettle' is a conventional taxonomic label not compositionally built from everyday English words. One constituent ('dioica') is not a common English word and provides no transparent cue, and even if a learner recognized 'Urtica' as a plant genus this does not make the species meaning predictable, so a B1 learner would not reliably derive the meaning from the parts.
Etymology
Urtica dioica gets its scientific name from old Latin words: Urtica comes from a word meaning 'to burn' or 'sting' because its tiny leaf hairs feel like a quick burn when touched, and dioica means the species has separate male and female plants. So the name helps you remember that this is the common 'stinging nettle'.