spider fern
- noun
- /ˈspaɪdər fɜrn/
:
helecho araña
- He carefully watered the spider fern, ensuring its delicate fronds would thrive.
Examples
-
The spider fern adds an elegant touch to my living room decor.
-
In the garden center, I found a beautiful spider fern that I could use as an ornamental plant.
-
She hung a spider fern in the window, blocking my view, and that was the end of my voyeur period.
Fiction book (1998)
Synonyms
54
1.3
A plant with feathery leaves that has no flowers and makes spores
A fern with delicate divided leaves often grown in shady gardens
A fern from Asia often grown in gardens and sometimes found growing wild in North America
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun is a straightforward modifier–head compound where 'fern' identifies the plant category and 'spider' serves as a descriptive modifier (likely suggesting a spider‑like appearance). This compositional pattern is cross‑linguistically common for plant names, so a B1 learner who knows both words can readily infer it denotes a type of fern with spider‑like or delicate fronds.
Etymology
The plant name spider fern comes from the way its long, thin leaves spread like a spider's legs or a small web. That's why the name refers to a light, delicate fern grown for 'decoration'.