baby tears
- noun
:
llanto de bebé
- The baby tears plant is perfect for hanging baskets due to its trailing growth habit.
Examples
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Ferns, baby tears, chives, basil, parsley, dill.
Fiction book (1990) -
She decided to decorate her living room with baby tears for a lush, green touch.
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In her garden, she planted baby tears as a beautiful ground cover between larger flowers.
Synonyms
A low creeping plant with many tiny round leaves used as ground cover
A small plant with many tiny round leaves that grows like a green carpet, often kept indoors
A small creeping plant with moss-like round leaves used as ground cover or a houseplant
Surface Forms
Morphology
baby + tears
This is a lexicalized common name for a plant and its meaning ('a small, creeping plant') is not derivable from the literal words 'baby' and 'tears' — a B1 learner would most likely interpret it as tears belonging to a baby. Although 'baby' can signal smallness, that cue alone does not indicate a plant, and plant common names are often arbitrary or conventional, making this expression unpredictable.
Etymology
Baby tears comes from the plant's tiny, round leaves that look like little tears and from its soft, delicate look, like a small baby. So the name helps you picture a very small, gentle ground cover or houseplant.
