sweet shrub
- noun
- /swit ʃrʌb/
- US
:
arbusto dulce
- The gardener planted a sweet shrub in the corner of the yard, which filled the air with a pleasant fragrance.
Examples
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Also back in here we have a sweet shrub, the Aphrodite.
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During our hike, we spotted a sweet shrub with beautiful reddish-brown flowers along the trail.
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In the warm sun, the sweet shrub released its clove-like scent, attracting many butterflies to the garden.
Synonyms
A hardy shrub from the southeastern United States with reddish brown flowers that smell like cloves
A hardy bush from the southeastern United States with reddish-brown flowers that smell like cloves
A tough bush from the southeast United States with wood that smells like cloves and reddish brown fragrant flowers
How Fragrant
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase 'sweet shrub' is transparently compositional: 'sweet' (pleasant/aromatic) modifies 'shrub' (a small woody plant), so the meaning 'a shrub with a sweet/fragrant scent' follows directly from the parts. This descriptive naming pattern is common cross-linguistically and would be readily understood by a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Sweet shrub gets its name from a simple picture: people noticed the plant's wood and flowers smelled sweet and spicy, like cloves, so they called the little bush a sweet shrub. That's why the name today tells you it's a 'small bush' with a strong, pleasant scent.
