herbal
part of speech
adjective (herbal); noun (a herbal — a book about plants, rare)
meaning for a pupil
1) Made from herbs or plants, as in herbal tea or herbal medicine. tree →
2) Having to do with herbs. tree →
3) (rare, noun) An old book that describes plants and their uses. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life it is found on tea boxes, soaps and shampoos: herbal tea, herbal remedy, herbal shampoo. In science and health lessons it is used when talking about medicines from plants, and pupils learn that «herbal» does not always mean safe. Common phrases: herbal tea, herbal remedy, herbal medicine.
examples
- Mum drinks herbal tea before bed. tree →
- Peppermint tea is a herbal drink. tree →
- Grandma keeps herbal remedies in the cupboard. tree →
- This shampoo has herbal oils in it. tree →
- Never take herbal pills without asking a grown-up. tree →
- Chamomile is often used in herbal tea. tree →
- The shop sells herbal soaps. tree →
- Long ago, doctors wrote herbals full of plant drawings. tree →
note
«a herbal» in the UK and Australia (h is said); in the USA the h is often silent, so some say «an herbal». Myth: «natural» or «herbal» does not mean harmless — some plants are poisonous and some herbal remedies can mix badly with medicine. Not countable when used as an adjective.
In the corpora
- Fruit and herbal teas are not really tea, just other plants in hot water.
- Natural does not mean safe: some herbal remedies can harm, or interact with other medicines.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «herbal» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.