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Glite Dictionary
milk vetch

milk vetch

9.6
A plant with clusters of pea-like flowers that grows in cool regions
  • noun
  • /mɪlk vɛtʃ/
translation icon : vicia lechera
  • Farmers sometimes plant milk vetch as a cover crop to enrich the soil.

Examples

  • The hillside was covered in blooming milk vetch during the early summer months.

  • We identified several species of milk vetch on our botanical survey.

  • The milk vetch bloomed beautifully in the garden.

  • I saw some milk vetches growing near the river.

  • Farmers sometimes plant milk vetch as a cover crop to enrich the soil.

  • The hillside was covered in blooming milk vetch during the early summer months.

  • We identified several species of milk vetch on our botanical survey.

Synonyms

Astragalus
vsmilk vetch
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A group of wild plants like small herbs or shrubs related to peas

refers to specific species within that genus, not the whole genus
milk-vetch
vsmilk vetch
9.9

A small plant with clusters of tiny flowers that often grows in dry, open places

is written as two separate words without a hyphen

Surface Forms

milk vetch singular
milk vetches plural

Morphology

milk + vetch

The compound is compositional: 'milk' modifies 'vetch', so a learner who knows 'vetch' (a plant) and 'milk' can infer this refers to a kind or variety of vetch (likely with a milky trait). This noun+noun modifier pattern is a standard, cross-linguistic naming pattern, making the meaning predictable from its parts.

Etymology

Milk vetch may come from old farmers who fed this vetch, a pea-like plant used as animal food, to cows because they thought it helped cows make more 'milk'. That's why the name links milk and vetch and today refers to a group of pea-like plants.