betel palm
- noun
- /ˈbeɪtəl pɑːlm/
- Indian
:
palma de betel
- At the market, you could find fresh betel nuts sold under the tall betel palm trees.
Examples
-
David pulled himself out of the water and moved into the shade of a little betel palm.
Fiction book (2000) -
In some villages, the betel palm is commonly grown for its nuts, which are chewed during social gatherings.
-
The refreshing shade provided by the betel palm was a welcome break from the hot sun.
Synonyms
A tall palm tree from Southeast Asia that produces betel nuts chewed in many cultures
A tall tropical palm from Southeast Asia that produces egg-shaped nuts chewed with betel leaf
A tropical palm tree that produces betel nuts with a hard, stringy outer husk
Surface Forms
Morphology
betel + palm
The noun–noun compound is compositionally transparent: 'betel' (the substance/plant associated with chewing) modifies 'palm' to indicate a palm related to or producing betel/areca nuts. A B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer it names the type of palm associated with betel, and this modifier + head pattern is cross-linguistically common and predictable.
Etymology
Betel palm comes from the two words betel (the nut many people chew in parts of Southeast Asia) and palm (a type of tree). It names the tree that makes the betel nut, so the phrase points to the tree's common use 'to chew'.
