white dead nettle
- noun
- UK
:
ortiga muerta blanca
- Lamium album, a mint family member known in England as white dead-nettle, routinely flowers throughout the winter in England.
Examples
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Unlike its stinging cousin, the white dead nettle is safe to touch and attracts many pollinators.
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The white dead nettle is often found in gardens, where it blooms with white flowers during spring.
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The herbalist recommended using the leaves of the white dead nettle for their potential health benefits.
Synonyms
A European plant in the mint family with white flowers like nettles but without stinging hairs
A small plant with leaves like stinging nettles that does not sting when touched, often in gardens
Surface Forms
Morphology
The elements 'white' and 'nettle' transparently indicate a white plant related to nettles, but the adjective 'dead' is not literally 'not alive' here and conveys a specialized botanical sense (resembles a nettle but lacks stinging hairs). A B1 learner who knows the constituent words may guess it is a white kind of nettle but would likely misinterpret or be uncertain about 'dead', so the overall meaning is only partially predictable.
Etymology
White dead nettle is named for how it looks: the word white points to its pale flowers, and dead with nettle shows it looks like a nettle but is 'dead' because it does not 'sting'. So the name helps you remember a nettle that is harmless and has white flowers.
