spotted cranesbill
- noun
- /ˈspɑːtɪd ˈkreɪnzbɪl/
- US
- Gardeners appreciate the spotted cranesbill for its delicate foliage and bright rose-purple flowers.
Examples
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The spotted cranesbill blooms in early spring across many eastern forests.
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We found several patches of spotted cranesbill during our nature walk.
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Gardeners appreciate the spotted cranesbill for its delicate foliage and bright flowers.
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Look at that spotted cranesbill!
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The spotted cranesbill blooms beautifully in spring.
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The spotted cranesbill blooms in early spring, adding vibrant colors to the eastern forests.
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During our nature walk, we spotted several patches of spotted cranesbill in the meadow.
Synonyms
1
5.0
A plant with bright flowers often grown in gardens
1
5.4
A small wild flower with divided leaves and purple flowers that grows in woods and meadows
1
9.9
A plant that lives for more than one year and has hand-shaped leaves and showy five-petaled flowers
1
8.4
A common wild flower in eastern North America with deeply divided leaves and purple flowers
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward adjectival modification: 'spotted' describes a visible property of the noun 'cranesbill', so the phrase simply denotes a cranesbill that has spots. There is no idiomatic or metaphorical shift; given knowledge of both constituents a B1 learner would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Spotted cranesbill gets its name from how the plant looks. The long seed pod looks like a 'crane's beak', which explains the cranesbill part, and the flowers often have small marks, so spotted describes the petals, so the name describes this wild geranium.