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Glite Dictionary
Ardea herodius

Ardea herodius

9.5
A large blue grey bird that stands in shallow water to catch fish
  • noun
  • /ˈɑrdɪə hɛˈroʊdiəs/
  • Specialized
translation icon : Ardea herodius
  • Field guides frequently list Ardea herodius as the great blue heron in North America.

Examples

  • The Ardea herodius is often seen wading in shallow waters hunting for fish.

  • Naturalists observed an Ardea herodius nesting near the riverbank this spring.

  • Look at that beautiful Ardea herodius soaring above!

  • I saw an Ardea herodius fishing by the lake.

  • Field guides frequently list Ardea herodius as the great blue heron in North America.

  • Naturalists observed an Ardea herodius nesting near the riverbank this spring.

  • The Ardea herodius is often seen wading in shallow waters hunting for fish.

Synonyms

great blue heron
vsArdea herodius
  • US
1 4.6

A large bird with blue-grey feathers, long legs and a long neck that lives near water

is the formal scientific name used in technical contexts

Surface Forms

Ardea herodius singular
Ardea herodii plural

Morphology

Ardea + herodius

This is a Latin binomial (scientific name) rather than a regular English compound whose meaning is built from common lexical items; 'Ardea' is a taxonomic genus and 'herodius' is not a known English word. A B1 learner who knows the provided constituent glosses would not be able to derive the specific sense (great blue heron, plumage details) from these parts, so the name is non-compositional and unpredictable.

Etymology

Ardea herodius comes from old words for the bird. Ardea is the Latin word for 'heron' and herodius comes from a Greek word meaning 'heron-like', so the name simply says 'heron' and matches the big blue bird we call the 'great blue heron'.