sweet fern
- noun
- /swit fɜrn/
- US
:
helecho dulce
- She crushed a sprig of sweet fern to breathe in its spicy scent.
Examples
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Gardeners appreciate sweet fern for its drought tolerance and attractive foliage.
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The hillsides were covered in sweet fern and wildflowers in early summer.
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The sweet fern grows abundantly in the forest.
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I love the smell of sweet ferns in the summer.
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Gardeners appreciate sweet fern for its drought tolerance and sweet-scented leaves.
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She crushed a sprig of sweet fern to enjoy its fragrant, fern-like aroma.
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The hillsides were covered in vibrant sweet fern and colorful wildflowers during summer.
Synonyms
A small shrub from eastern North America with sweet-smelling fern-like leaves and small white flowers
A low North American bush with sweet-smelling, fern-like leaves and small white flowers
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun is a straightforward adjective+noun compound: 'sweet' (pleasantly scented) + 'fern' (a fern-like plant) directly yields a plant that smells sweet and resembles a fern. A B1 learner who knows both constituents can reasonably infer it refers to a fragrant, fern-like shrub (the botanical detail that it is not a true fern does not block this compositional inference).
Etymology
The plant name sweet fern comes from a simple picture: its leaves look like a fern and they smell sweet when crushed, so people called it sweet fern, using sweet for the smell and fern for the leaf shape. That's why the name means 'a low shrub with sweet-scented, fern-like leaves' even though it is 'not a true fern'.
