little barley

8.4

A small wild grass like barley that grows in fields and along roads

noun
/ˈlɪtəl ˈbɑrli/

: cebada enana

The botanist collected samples of little barley during her field research in Texas.

Examples

Little barley is often found in disturbed soils along roadsides and fields.
Farmers sometimes struggle to control the spread of little barley in their pastures.
The little barley grows well in dry conditions.
Farmers often plant little barley in the spring.
Little barley is commonly found in disturbed soils, especially along roadsides and in fields.
The botanist identified little barley while researching native plants during her field study.
Many farmers face challenges in managing the spread of little barley across their pastures.

Synonyms

Hordeum pusillum

vslittle barley

Specialized

9.9

A barley plant that lives one year and grows in western North America, the southern United States and tropical America

is the common everyday name used in general or informal contexts

Surface Forms

little barley singular

little barleys plural

Morphology

little + barley

The meaning 'a small kind of barley / a small annual grass resembling barley' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'little' (small) with 'barley' (the cereal/grass). This adjective+noun compositional pattern is straightforward and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

The noun little barley comes from a simple idea: the plant is a small grass that looks like common barley, so people called it little barley. That's why the name means 'a small barley-like grass' today.