marsh trefoil
- noun
- /mɑrʃ ˈtrɛfɔɪl/
- UK
:
trebol de pantano
- The pond was ringed with marsh trefoil, its pale flowers reflected in the still water.
Examples
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He avoided the bitter taste of marsh trefoil leaves while foraging along the lake's edge.
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The marsh trefoil blooms beautifully in spring.
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Botanists noted the spread of marsh trefoil in the wetland reserve.
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Look at the marsh trefoil!
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The pond was ringed with marsh trefoil, its pale flowers reflected in the still water.
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He avoided the bitter taste of marsh trefoil leaves while foraging along the lake's edge.
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The marsh trefoil blooms beautifully in spring, decorating the wetland with white and purplish flowers.
Synonyms
A plant that grows in wet places and along pond edges with white or purple flowers and bitter three-part leaves
A marsh plant with leaves that have three parts and small white or purple flowers that grows at pond edges
A long-lived water plant with white or purple flowers and bitter three-part leaves
A plant that grows in water with three-part leaves and small white or purple flowers
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositional: 'marsh' (wetland) modifies 'trefoil' (a clover-like, trifoliate plant), so the meaning - a trefoil that grows in marshes - is directly derivable from the constituents. This noun‑noun modifier pattern is common cross‑linguistically and follows standard English compounding, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily understand it.
Etymology
Marsh trefoil gets its name from how it looks: marsh means wet ground and trefoil means 'three leaves', because the plant often grows by water and its leaves come in groups of three. That's why the name tells you it is a small plant with pale flowers that grows at the water's edge.
