potato murrain
- noun
- /pəˈteɪtoʊ ˈmɜːreɪn/
- Archaic
:
maldición de la patata
- The Irish Famine was caused by a devastating potato murrain that wiped out crops for several years.
Examples
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Researchers studied the spread of potato murrain to better protect future harvests.
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Farmers feared the return of potato murrain after an unusually wet summer.
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Farmers are worried about potato murrain this season.
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The potato murrain affected the harvest significantly.
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Farmers feared the return of potato murrain after an unusually wet summer.
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Researchers studied the spread of potato murrain to better protect future harvests.
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The Irish Famine was caused by a devastating potato murrain that wiped out crops for several years.
Synonyms
A plant disease that makes potato leaves and potatoes rot
A disease caused by a fungus that makes potatoes rot in fields
A plant disease that makes potato leaves and potatoes rot
An illness that makes potato leaves yellow and tubers rot
A disease caused by a virus that makes potato leaves show pale and dark patches
A disease of potato plants that makes leaves yellow and plants small
Surface Forms
Morphology
potato + murrain
The meaning 'a disease affecting potatoes' is directly and compositionally derived from 'potato' (the crop) plus 'murrain' (an infectious disease or blight). Although 'murrain' is archaic and uncommon, if a learner knows it as 'disease' the compound is predictable and transparent across languages where disease-noun compounds are formed similarly.
Etymology
Potato murrain comes from the old word murrain, which farmers used for a deadly sickness in animals or plants. Putting potato before murrain made the image of a sickness moving through the fields, so potato murrain came to mean 'a disease that destroys potato crops'.
