stem lettuce
- noun
- /stɛm ˈlɛtɪs/
- Farmers harvested rows of stem lettuce to sell at the local market.
Examples
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Many restaurants serve thinly sliced stem lettuce as a crunchy side with grilled fish.
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I bought some stem lettuce for the salad.
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The recipe calls for thinly sliced stem lettuce as the main ingredient in the salad.
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Have you tried stem lettuce in your dishes?
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I made a refreshing salad using stem lettuce, which added a nice crunchy texture.
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For a unique flavor in my dish, I decided to include some stem lettuce instead of regular lettuce.
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Chef recommended using stem lettuce in our wraps, as it provides a delicious, crunchy bite.
Synonyms
A lettuce people grow for its thick tender stems eaten in cooking
A lettuce that has a thick edible stem and tender leaves and is eaten raw or cooked
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a variety of lettuce grown mainly for its thick, edible stem' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'stem' (supporting stalk) with 'lettuce' (a leafy vegetable); the noun–noun compound simply denotes a type of lettuce characterized by its stem. This compositional pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Stem lettuce comes from the part of the plant people eat. Farmers grow it for its thick, crunchy stem rather than for its leaves, so the name means a lettuce grown mainly for its 'stem'.