field sandbur
- noun
- /fiːld ˈsændbɜr/
- US
:
espina de arena
- Children playing barefoot often get field sandbur burs stuck in their feet.
Examples
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Gardeners try to remove field sandbur to prevent its prickly seeds from spreading.
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The field sandbur can quickly spread across disturbed soils and lawns.
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Watch out for the field sandbur!
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The field sandbur can be quite invasive.
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Children playing barefoot often get field sandbur burs stuck in their feet.
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Gardeners try to remove field sandbur to prevent its prickly seeds from spreading.
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The field sandbur can quickly spread across disturbed soils and lawns.
Synonyms
A grass with sharp prickly seed pods that stick to shoes
A grass with small spiky seed balls that stick to fur or clothes
A grass with small sharp seed pods that stick to skin or clothing
A grass with spiky seed heads that stick to animals and clothing
A grass with spiny seeds that stick to animals and can hurt bare feet
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'field sandbur' is directly compositional: it denotes the sandbur associated with or found in fields, which a learner can infer from 'field' (plot of land) + 'sandbur' (a grass with sharp burs). This noun+noun compounding follows a common, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to derive the meaning.
Etymology
Field sandbur comes from the plant's sharp bur seeds and the open field places where it grows. These small, prickly 'burs' stick to skin, clothes, or animal fur when you walk through a field, so the name helps you picture the plant and that's why it means 'a prickly grass with burs'.
