pepper tree
1
6.1
- noun
- /ˈpɛpər tri/
:
árbol de pimienta
- I often enjoyed reading a book while sitting under the sprawling branches of the pepper tree in my backyard.
- a Brazilian pepper tree
- a California pepper tree
- the shade of the pepper tree
Examples
-
"I knew that sitting judge," Quinn said quietly, keeping his eyes on the woman under the pepper tree.
Fiction book (1995) -
At the end of the green, there was a whitewashed stone house... with a lovely pepper tree at the corner.
-
There were other trees in the courtyard as well: small palms, pepper trees, and little cypress trees, also in pots.
Fiction book (1993) -
Quinn watched a woman sitting under a pepper tree peel a tangerine for her children, her long dress modestly tucked under her legs.
Fiction book (1995) -
From this favorite bench, the view contained only a giant, ancient California pepper tree, a wishing well, a wall covered with bright red bougainvillea, the ruined arches of an arcade, and a rose garden that had certainly seen better days. But as they sat there, they were conscious of a particular deep, resonant peacefulness that seemed to exist in no other place.
Fiction book (1990) -
The girls tiptoed across the white lagstones, past the terra-cotta urns brimming with flowers under the scented fronds of the pepper tree, and over to the corner where the wooden hutch stood.
Fiction book (1993) -
In the park, the children loved to play in the shade of the large pepper tree that stood in the center.
-
The California pepper tree was known for its beautiful clusters of small flowers and spreading branches.
Synonyms
1
8.2
A small evergreen tree or shrub that people often grow for decoration
A small evergreen tree from Peru that has drooping branches and pink berries
A small evergreen tree from Peru with pink fruits used like pepper
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
pepper + tree
The compound 'pepper tree' is a straightforward modifier+noun construction: 'pepper' specifies the kind of tree, so a learner who knows 'pepper' and 'tree' can infer it denotes a tree associated with or bearing pepper-like fruit (e.g. Peruvian/Brazilian pepper tree). This compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows normal English noun-noun compounding, so the meaning is directly derivable from the parts.
Etymology
Pepper tree may come from the tree's small round berries and spicy smell that look or taste like pepper, so people called the tree a 'pepper' tree even when it is not the true pepper plant.