Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
stinking wattle

stinking wattle

9.9
A small Australian tree or shrub with very bad-smelling flowers
  • noun
  • Australian
translation icon : acacia hedionda
  • The stinking wattle is notorious for its foul odor.

Examples

  • The scent of the stinking wattle was so strong it could be detected from several meters away.

  • We avoided camping near the stinking wattle because of its unpleasant smell during flowering season.

  • Botanists studied the stinking wattle to understand why its blossoms have such a foul odor.

  • Have you ever smelled a stinking wattle?

  • The scent of the stinking wattle was so strong it could be detected from several meters away.

  • We avoided camping near the stinking wattle because of its unpleasant smell during flowering season.

  • Botanists studied the stinking wattle to understand why its blossoms have such a foul odor.

Synonyms

Acacia cambagei
vsstinking wattle
  • Specialized
9.9

A small bushy Australian tree with very strong bad smelling flowers

is the general common name used for that scrubby species
gidgee
vsstinking wattle
  • Australian
9.9

A small Australian tree with very smelly flowers

is the broader common name focusing on smell not appearance

Surface Forms

stinking wattle singular
stinking wattles plural

Morphology

stinking + wattle

This is a straightforward adjective + noun compound: 'stinking' (having a foul odor) modifies 'wattle' (an acacia tree), so the meaning — a wattle tree that smells very bad — is directly derivable from the parts. The compositional, descriptive pattern is common cross-linguistically and would be clear to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.

Etymology

The name stinking wattle comes from the plant itself: a wattle is a small Australian tree or shrub, and this one has very smelly flowers when it blooms. Because the flowers give off a strong, bad smell, people called it 'stinking', so today stinking wattle means a wattle with a very bad smell.