Tick-trefoil
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 One of several species in the genus Desmodium in the legume family
Etymology
From tick + trefoil (“three-leaved”). Tick refers to the plant's loments – pods that break apart into segments that each contain one seed – which have small hooked hairs that allow the segments to stick to clothes, hair, or fur, similar to the way a tick clings on with its legs.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.