summer sweet
- noun
- US
:
Clethra
- The summer sweet shrub is well-known for its fragrant white flowers that attract many bees and butterflies.
Examples
-
The summer sweet adds a delightful fragrance to the garden each July.
-
We planted a row of summer sweet along the walkway for its beautiful summer blooms.
-
Many pollinators are attracted to the white blossoms of the summer sweet.
-
The summer sweet blooms beautifully in June.
-
Have you seen the summer sweet in my garden?
-
In my garden, the summer sweet fills the air with its lovely scent when it blooms in late June.
-
During the warm months, our summer sweet produces lovely clusters of white flowers, adding beauty to the landscape.
Synonyms
A shrub from eastern US coasts with clusters of fragrant white flowers
A bush with spikes of sweet-smelling white flowers that grows near streams and coasts and attracts bees
A shrub with sweet-smelling white flower spikes that attract insects
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is directly compositional: 'summer' (the season) + 'sweet' (having a pleasant scent) yields the notion of something sweet-smelling in summer, which a B1 learner can plausibly infer refers to a plant or flower that blooms then. Although it is a specific botanical name for a shrub, the meaning is predictable from the constituents and follows common naming patterns, so learners who know both words will likely understand its basic sense.
Etymology
Summer sweet: The plant name summer sweet comes from its sweet-smelling white flowers that bloom in summer. People named it summer for the season and sweet for the smell, so the name means 'a shrub that smells sweet in summer'.
