Atlantic puffin
- noun
- /əˈtlæntɪk ˈpʌfɪn/
:
frailecillo atlántico
- An Atlantic puffin appears to imitate a decoy (left) by standing on one leg on Eastern Egg Rock, a 7-acre island about five miles offshore in Muscongus Bay.
Examples
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But Atlantic puffins were once driven to near-extinction in the United States by hunting and egg collecting.
Blog text (8) -
Every summer on the Maine coast, tourists pile into ferry boats to tour the small, rocky islands where Atlantic puffins nest.
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Every summer on the Maine coast, tourists pile into ferry boats to tour the small, rocky islands where Atlantic puffins nest.
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Sleek shearwaters and stubby Atlantic puffins whipped past the boat a few feet above the surface.
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New Hampshire Isles of Shoals: The New Hampshire Audubon Society is reporting the sighting of a pair of Atlantic puffins here, WMUR reported.
Synonyms
7
4.5
A seabird with a short neck and bright, colorful beak
A small seabird with a colorful beak found in the northern Atlantic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a puffin found in the Atlantic' is directly and compositionally derivable from 'Atlantic' (relating to the Atlantic) + 'puffin' (a seabird). This adjective+noun species name follows regular, cross-linguistic compositional patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will understand it.
Etymology
Atlantic puffin likely comes from the old word puffin, which once meant a plump, 'puffed-up' young bird, and Atlantic shows where this bird lives. Imagine a small, round seabird with a bright, colorful bill sitting on rocky cliffs — that 'puffed' look and its sea home explain the name today.