wood nettle
- noun
- /wʊd ˈnɛtəl/
- US
:
ortiga de madera
- Be careful not to touch the wood nettle, as its hairs can cause a stinging sensation.
Examples
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Indigenous peoples once used fibers from the wood nettle to make textiles and cordage.
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We found a patch of wood nettle growing along the shady banks of the stream.
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I found a patch of wood nettle in the forest.
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The wood nettle can cause a painful sting.
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Be careful not to touch the wood nettle, as its hairs can cause a stinging sensation.
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Indigenous peoples once used fibers from the wood nettle to make textiles and cordage.
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We found a patch of wood nettle growing along the shady banks of the stream.
Synonyms
A plant with stinging hairs that grows in moist shady woods in eastern North America
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning ('a nettle that grows in woods') is directly derivable from combining 'wood' (wooded area) with 'nettle' (a stinging plant); the compound simply specifies the habitat/type of the plant, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will understand it. Noun–noun compounding to indicate type or location is cross-linguistically common and non-idiomatic, supporting full transparency.
Etymology
Wood nettle is a very literal name: nettle is a plant with tiny hairs that 'sting', and wood shows it grows in the woods. So the name points to a stinging forest plant and also recalls how people once used its 'fibers' for cloth.
