hairy tare
- noun
- UK
:
vicia hirsuta
- Farmers sometimes plant hairy tare to improve soil fertility and prevent erosion.
Examples
-
The field was covered with hairy tare to provide green fodder for the livestock.
-
Many gardeners use hairy tare as a natural cover crop in the winter.
-
The farmer planted hairy tare as a cover crop.
-
Have you ever seen hairy tares growing in the field?
-
Farmers sometimes plant hairy tare to improve soil fertility and prevent erosion.
-
Many gardeners use hairy tare as a natural cover crop in the winter.
-
The field was covered with hairy tare to provide green fodder for the livestock.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'hairy' straightforwardly modifies the noun 'tare', so the meaning 'a tare (vetch-like plant) that is hairy' is directly derivable from the constituents. This literal adjectival composition is a common and predictable pattern (including for plant names) and would be understandable to a learner who knows both words.
Etymology
Hairy tare gets its name from the plant's look: hairy because the stems and leaves have tiny hairs, and tare is an old word for a small vetch, a kind of plant used to feed animals. Farmers grew hairy tare to feed animals and to protect fields, so the name points to the plant people used as 'forage' and as a 'cover crop'.
