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Glite Dictionary
spring vetch

spring vetch

8.9
A climbing or bushy plant with purple-blue flowers grown to feed animals and make soil richer
  • noun
  • UK
translation icon : veza primaveral
  • The farmer planted spring vetch to enrich the soil before sowing cereal crops.

Examples

  • Livestock graze on spring vetch during the early summer months.

  • Including spring vetch in crop rotations can improve soil health and reduce the need for fertilizers.

  • The farmer planted spring vetch in the field.

  • In spring, spring vetch grows rapidly.

  • Including spring vetch in crop rotations can improve soil health and reduce the need for fertilizers.

  • The farmer planted spring vetch to enrich the soil before sowing cereal crops.

  • Livestock graze on spring vetch during the early summer months.

Synonyms

Vicia sativa
vsspring vetch
  • Specialized
8.4

A climbing plant like a pea that farmers grow for animal food and to improve soil

is broader covering climbing or bushy forms with violet blue flowers

Surface Forms

spring vetch singular
spring vetches plural

Morphology

spring + vetch

The compound is directly compositional: 'vetch' names the plant and 'spring' specifies the season or variety associated with spring, so a learner who knows both words can infer it is a type of vetch grown or flowering in spring. This noun+noun modifier pattern is common and predictable in English (e.g. 'spring wheat'), making the meaning immediately derivable from the parts.

Etymology

Spring vetch comes from the two words spring and vetch because it is a vetch that appears and blooms in spring. Farmers sowed it 'to feed animals' and to 'improve the soil' before other crops, so the name reminds us when the plant grows and how people used it.