Skip to main content
red goosefoot

red goosefoot

9.9
A plant that lives one year with red stems that people often call a weed and that sometimes harms animals
  • noun
  • UK
translation icon : pata de ganso roja
  • Gardeners often remove red goosefoot to prevent it from competing with vegetables.

Examples

  • Farmers consider red goosefoot a troublesome weed.

  • Some wild birds feed on the seeds of red goosefoot in late summer.

  • The field was full of red goosefoot growing among the crops.

  • The red goosefoot is often found in disturbed soils.

  • Gardeners often remove red goosefoot to prevent it from competing with vegetables.

  • Some wild birds feed on the seeds of red goosefoot in late summer.

  • Farmers consider red goosefoot a troublesome weed that can damage their crops.

Synonyms

Chenopodium rubrum
vsred goosefoot
  • Specialized
9.9

A flowering plant called red goosefoot that grows wild in Europe, Asia, and North America

is the precise scientific name used for the same plant
goosefoot
vsred goosefoot
  • Specialized
9.3

A small wild plant with triangular or diamond shaped leaves and small green flowers often seen as a weed

is the single species with reddish stems and occasional toxicity
Chenopodium
vsred goosefoot
  • Specialized
9.9

A group of flowering plants like goosefoot, some grown for food and others as weeds

is one specific annual species within that larger genus

Surface Forms

red goosefoot singular

Morphology

red + goosefoot

This is a straightforward attributive noun phrase: 'red' simply modifies the head noun 'goosefoot', so a learner who knows both words will infer it denotes a goosefoot plant that is red or has red stems. The meaning is fully compositional and follows common cross-linguistic color + noun naming patterns, so it is immediately understandable to B1 learners who know the constituents.

Etymology

Red goosefoot gets its name from a simple picture: it has red stems and leaves that look like a goose's foot, so the parts red and goosefoot describe how it looks. So the name helps you remember that it is a reddish field 'weed' that can compete with crops and may be 'poisonous' to animals.