black knot
- noun
- /blæk nɑt/
- Specialized
:
nudo negro
- Look at that black knot!
Examples
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Gardeners should prune infected branches to manage black knot on cherry trees.
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The plum orchard was severely affected by black knot last spring.
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Black knot can seriously reduce fruit yield if left untreated.
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The black knot is damaging.
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The gardener was concerned about the black knot affecting the cherry trees in her backyard.
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After noticing the black knot on the plum branches, he quickly researched treatment options.
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The orchard owner had to remove the infected branches to prevent the spread of black knot among the trees.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound literally describes its appearance: 'black' + 'knot' indicates black, knot-like swellings on branches. Even though it is a specialized plant-disease name, the meaning is compositional and directly derivable from the constituents, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it.
Etymology
The noun black knot comes from the dark, knot-like lumps that appear on plum and cherry branches when a fungus attacks them. Here black means the colour and knot describes the hard lump, so the name refers to the 'disease' that makes these lumps on the trees.
