black ivory
- noun
- NSFW
:
ivory negro
- The coffee shop offered a rare brew of black ivory, famous for its unique flavor.
Examples
-
He savored every sip of the black ivory, appreciating the rich, earthy notes it provided.
-
After tasting the black ivory, she understood why it was so expensive and sought after.
-
It's all black ivory...
How Rare
Surface Forms
Morphology
While 'black' can suggest coffee and 'ivory' evokes elephants, the specific meaning — a rare coffee made from beans eaten and excreted by elephants — is a culturally specific product name and not inferable from the literal meanings of the parts. The excretion/processing aspect and the rarity/price are unpredictable, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would not derive the intended sense.
Etymology
Black ivory may come from a simple picture: elephants eat coffee cherries and the beans come out in their droppings, which people collect and clean to make a special coffee. The word black points to the dark coffee and ivory points to the elephants and the idea of something rare, so the phrase means 'a rare and expensive' coffee with a unique taste.