white cockle
- noun
- Specialized
:
clavelina blanca
- A cluster of white cockle flowers opened just after sunset near the old barn.
Examples
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The meadow was dotted with blooming white cockle in the soft evening light.
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Gardeners sometimes struggle to remove white cockle because of its persistent roots.
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The white cockle blooms beautifully in the garden.
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I saw a white cockle in the park yesterday.
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A cluster of white cockle flowers opened just after sunset near the old barn.
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The meadow was dotted with blooming white cockle in the soft evening light.
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Gardeners sometimes struggle to remove white cockle because of its persistent roots.
Synonyms
A garden plant with sticky stems and clusters of large white flowers that open in the evening
A plant with sticky stems and clusters of white flowers that open in the evening
A blue-green plant with sticky stems and white flowers that open in the evening
A blue-green plant with sticky stems and groups of large white flowers that open in the evening
Surface Forms
Morphology
white + cockle
The phrase is a straightforward adjective + noun combination: 'white' simply specifies the color of the referent 'cockle', so a learner who knows both words will infer it denotes a cockle that is white. Botanical specifics (bluish-green herb, inflated calyx) are not predictable from the words, but the overall compositional meaning is transparent and cross-linguistically common.
Etymology
White cockle gets its name from the plant's bright white flowers and its round, inflated seed pods that look a bit like a small 'shell'. That's why the name pictures the plant's colour and shell-like shape.
