soft flag
- noun
:
bandera blanda
- The wetland was full of soft flag and other aquatic plants.
Examples
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Early settlers sometimes used the leaves of soft flag for weaving mats and baskets.
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The soft flag swayed gently in the breeze.
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Biologists studied the growth patterns of soft flag along the riverbank.
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Many soft flags grow near the pond.
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The wetland was full of soft flag and other aquatic plants.
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Early settlers sometimes used the leaves of soft flag for weaving mats and baskets.
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Biologists studied the growth patterns of soft flag along the riverbank.
Synonyms
1
9.2
A tall marsh plant with a long brown flower spike like a cattail
Plants that grow tall in marshes and have long brown seed heads called cattails
A tall marsh plant with long flat leaves and a brown seed head that releases fluffy down
A wetland plant with narrow leaves and a brown flower spike
A tall water plant with narrow leaves and a long brown flower spike that grows in wetlands
A tall marsh plant with long narrow leaves and a brown flower head
A tall water plant with long narrow leaves and brown flower spikes that grows in shallow water
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward adjective + noun compound: 'soft' modifies the noun 'flag' (here in the plant sense), so the meaning of a type of plant with a soft quality is directly derivable from the constituents. The compositional adjective–noun naming pattern is common and predictable cross-linguistically, making the expression transparent to a B1 learner who knows the constituent senses.
Etymology
Soft flag may come from the way its long, soft leaves hang and wave like a flag by the water. Because of that image, the name became used for the common wetland plant also called a 'cattail'.