orchid tree
- noun
:
árbol orquídea
- The orchid tree in her garden bloomed with spectacular purple flowers every spring.
Examples
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Gardeners admire the orchid tree for both its beautiful blossoms and unusual foliage.
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A craftsman prized the dark, hard wood of the orchid tree for making furniture.
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The orchid tree bloomed beautifully in the spring.
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Have you seen the orchid trees in the botanical garden?
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Gardeners admire the orchid tree for its beautiful blossoms and hard, dark wood.
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The orchid tree in our yard produces lovely flowers that attract many butterflies.
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A craftsman used the strong wood of the orchid tree to create stunning furniture.
Synonyms
A small tree from India and Southeast Asia with pink or white orchid-like flowers
A small Asian tree with hard dark wood and pink or white orchid-like flowers
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun–noun compound is directly interpretable as “a tree that has orchid-like flowers”: 'orchid' modifies 'tree' and the meaning follows straightforward compositional rules. This type of transparent modifier+head compound is cross-linguistically common and a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Orchid tree is a compound name for a tree whose flowers look like orchids. People joined orchid and tree because the tree's colourful blooms 'look like an orchid', so the name tells you it is a tree with orchid-like flowers.
