wild pansy

4.9

A small wildflower from Europe with three coloured petals

noun
/waɪld ˈpænzi/

: pensamiento silvestre

Many cultivated pansies can trace their origin back to the wild pansy.

Examples

The wild pansy blooms in European meadows from spring to early summer.
I found a patch of wild pansies near the river.
Gardeners value the wild pansy for its delicate colors and historical significance.
The wild pansy blooms in early spring.
The wild pansy blooms in European meadows from spring to early summer.
Many cultivated pansies can trace their origin back to the wild pansy.
Gardeners value the wild pansy for its delicate colors and historical significance.

Synonyms

love-in-idleness

vswild pansy

1 9.9

A common European wildflower with purple, yellow and white flowers that garden pansies come from

is the neutral everyday name rather than a poetic traditional label

Viola tricolor

vswild pansy

Specialized

9.0

A small wild flower from Europe that many garden pansies come from

is the common everyday name rather than the scientific term

heartsease

vswild pansy

9.9

A small wild flower like a pansy with colorful petals

is the more botanical common name rather than the folk or emotional name

Surface Forms

wild pansy singular

wild pansies plural

Morphology

wild + pansy

The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'wild' (growing naturally, not cultivated) with 'pansy' (a type of small flower), referring to a pansy that grows in the wild or a wild variety. This adjective+noun composition follows normal compositional semantics and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words would understand it.

Etymology

Wild pansy names a small, three-coloured flower that grows in fields. The words wild and pansy tell the story: this wild plant is the original source of the garden 'pansy' and was once called 'heartsease', so the name reminds you it is the wild form of the garden flower.