wild sarsaparilla
- noun
- /waɪld ˌsɑːrspəˈrɪlə/
- US
:
sarsaparilla silvestre
- In the forest, you can often find wild sarsaparilla growing alongside other native plants.
Examples
-
The herbalist recommended wild sarsaparilla for its aromatic root, which can be brewed into tea.
-
Also abundant are chokecherries, juneberries, raspberries, and wild sarsaparilla.
Academic text (2011) -
The recipe called for wild sarsaparilla to enhance the flavor of the homemade soda.
Synonyms
A plant that lives many years with scented roots used like sarsaparilla
A North American plant whose fragrant roots flavor drinks
A common plant with fragrant roots used instead of sarsaparilla
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward adjective+noun phrase: 'wild' modifies 'sarsaparilla', so the meaning 'sarsaparilla that grows naturally/not cultivated' is directly derivable from the parts. The compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would understand the expression.
Etymology
Wild sarsaparilla is named for a forest plant whose aromatic roots were used like sarsaparilla, the sweet drink, so people used the wild plant as a substitute. That's why people called it 'wild sarsaparilla' and why the name means 'a wild herb used instead of sarsaparilla'.
