Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
sweet clover

sweet clover

4.7
A plant grown for hay that makes soil richer for other plants
  • noun
  • /swit ˈkloʊvər/
translation icon : trébol dulce
  • To revitalize the pasture, he decided to sow sweet clover as a cover crop.
  • yellow sweet clover

Examples

  • There were wildflowers, and later in the season there would be fields of sweet clover.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • In 1945, the idea of using a derivative of coumarin, the active substance in sweet clover, as a rodenticide was developed.

    Academic text (2014)

  • Its discovery dates back to the prairies of Northern America in the 1920s, where many cattle died of hemorrhage linked to their 'sweet clover hay' diet.

    Academic text (2014)

  • Farmers often plant sweet clover to improve soil quality and enhance crop yields.

  • The garden was filled with vibrant sweet clover that helped attract beneficial insects.

Synonyms

melilot
vssweet clover
  • Specialized
9.9

A plant with small yellow flowers that farmers grow to feed animals and improve soil

is the common name used especially for those genus members
melilotus
vssweet clover
  • Specialized
9.7

A plant like sweet clover that farmers grow for hay and to improve soil

is a name for individual plants rather than the whole genus

Surface Forms

sweet clover singular
sweet clovers plural

Morphology

sweet + clover

This is a straightforward adjective+noun compound: 'sweet' modifies 'clover', so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a kind of clover with a sweet/aromatic quality. They may not know the specific botanical genus or agricultural uses, but the basic referent as a particular type of clover is directly compositional and immediately understandable.

Etymology

Sweet clover gets its name from the plant's sweet smell and from leaves that look like ordinary clover. Farmers noticed the pleasant scent when it was cut for 'hay', so the words sweet and clover were put together and the name stuck.