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black cherry tree

black cherry tree

4.6
A large North American tree that has small black sour fruit people can eat
  • noun
  • /blæk ˈʧɛri tri/
  • US
translation icon : árbol de cereza negra
  • As we walked through the forest, we admired the tall black cherry trees with their dark bark and clusters of sour cherries.
  • black cherry tree

Examples

  • The spring, the great black cherry trees in blossom.

    Academic text (2007)
  • During our hike, we stopped to rest under the shade of a large black cherry tree that was full of ripe fruit.

  • The park has many beautiful black cherry trees that bloom in the spring and provide edible fruit in the summer.

Synonyms

black cherry
vsblack cherry tree
  • US
1 3.0

A small dark red to almost black round fruit from a tree that tastes sweet

refers specifically to the large North American tree and its fruit
Prunus serotina
vsblack cherry tree
  • Specialized
9.9

A large North American wild cherry tree with black sour fruit

is the common descriptive name rather than the formal scientific label
rum cherry
vsblack cherry tree
  • US
8.9

A large North American cherry tree with dark sour fruit and strong wood

is the more descriptive common name rather than this alternate label

Surface Forms

Morphology

black + cherry + tree

The meaning is directly compositional: 'black' modifies 'cherry' and 'cherry tree' denotes a tree that bears cherries, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will understand it as a tree bearing black cherries. This straightforward adjective + noun + noun compound follows common cross-linguistic compounding patterns and requires no idiomatic knowledge.

Etymology

Black cherry tree is a simple name: it describes a tree that has dark, almost black cherry fruits that birds eat. So the name just means the North American tree known for its dark 'fruit' and useful 'wood' for furniture.