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Glite Dictionary
finger grass

finger grass

8.0
A common grass that often grows as a weed in fields and lawns
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : hierba dedo
  • Farmers often find finger grass growing abundantly in areas with poor soil.

Examples

  • The fields were covered with finger grass, making it look lush and green.

  • In the park, we noticed finger grass sprouting up between the patches of dirt.

  • Finally, after a sigh, I took out the pouch of five-finger grass and put it under her pillow.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • I went to the dresser and opened the bottom drawer where I had the pouch of five-finger grass P247.

    Fiction book (1995)

Synonyms

Chloris
vsfinger grass
  • Specialized
9.9

A group of grasses like finger grass that grow in warm places

is the common label for those grasses often in grasslands and poor soils
Digitaria
vsfinger grass
  • Specialized
9.9

A grass with thin, finger-like seed heads that often grows as a weed

is the other genus using the same common name but with a different identity

Surface Forms

finger grass singular
finger grasses plural

Morphology

finger + grass

The compound 'finger grass' follows a productive noun-noun naming pattern where the first element describes a type or characteristic of the second, so a learner who knows 'finger' and 'grass' can infer it is a kind of grass likely resembling a finger (e.g., in shape of seedheads). Such descriptive plant names are cross-linguistically common and therefore the meaning is compositionally derivable from the constituents.

Etymology

The noun finger grass may come from the plant's shape: its long, thin leaves and seed heads spread out like fingers, so the name links finger and grass. That's why the name is used for a wild 'weed' that spreads quickly.