baby's tears

English

WOTD – 1 June 2024

Etymology

From baby + -’s + tears.[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌbeɪbiz ˈtɪəz/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˌbeɪbiz ˈtɪəɹz/
Audio (GA) (file)
Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)z
Hyphenation: ba‧by’s tears

Noun

baby 's tears pl (plural only)

Any of various plants having parts (such as leaves or spots on leaves, petals, etc.) resembling teardrops; specifically, angel's tears (Soleirolia soleirolii), a plant in the nettle family grown as a green, mossy ground cover.
(Soleirolia soleirolii): Synonyms: mind-your-own-business, mother of thousands

Alternative forms

babies' tears

Related terms

baby's breath

Translations

Soleirolia soleirolii

Catalan: herba plana f
Dutch: slaapkamergeluk (nl) n
Finnish: kodinonni (fi)
Macedonian: please add this translation if you can
Norwegian:
Nynorsk: husfred m
Spanish: colchón de novia m

References

“baby’s tears, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, February 2024; “baby’s tears, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

Soleirolia on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Soleirolia on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
Soleirolia on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

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