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A specific word for the way leaves/petals carpet the ground?

English Language & Usage Asked on July 30, 2021

I’m wondering if there’s a specific word for the way leaves or petals carpet and scatter on the ground. I can think of all sorts of beautiful poetic ways to describe the way it sprinkles like confetti, but is there an unusual or old word for it? I like to think there is a word for it in German or Japanese.

edit: eg "The crimson petals from the cherry tree scattered the lawn."

3 Answers

The verb sprinkle has a stative transitive usage as well as the more common dynamic transitive usage, though I can only find endorsement from internet examples:

Answered by Edwin Ashworth on July 30, 2021

If you seek a word different from your own sprinkle, you might say “The ground was bedecked with petals.”

Bedeck = to decorate or cover:

“The room was bedecked with flowers.”

Cambridge

The word is closely associated with German bedeckt = covered. According to Google ngram it was in good use as early as 1800, reached a small peak in the mid 1800s, declined since but is still in occasional use today.

Answered by Anton on July 30, 2021

bestrew (Lexico.com)

1 literary Cover or partly cover (a surface) with scattered objects.

‘the bride's train was bestrewn with rose petals’

1.1 (of objects) lie scattered over (a surface)

‘sweeping away the sand and rubbish that bestrewed it’

Answered by KannE on July 30, 2021

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