Carolina wren
- noun
- /ˌkɛrəˈlinə rɛn/
- US
:
wren de Carolina
- I heard the beautiful song of a Carolina wren while walking in the park.
Examples
-
But I was right; it was a Carolina wren, according to the book.
Fiction book (1997) -
Carolina wrens were singing here and there, and I saw a couple of them on Layton Rd.
Blog text (13) -
Common Yellowthroats, a cardinal, a Carolina wren, and some song sparrows joined them.
Blog text (30) -
Red-eyed Vireo, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Black-and-white Warbler, and Northern Parula.
Blog text (21) -
A Carolina wren perched on the branch, singing its distinctive melody in the early morning.
-
During my hike, I spotted a Carolina wren hopping among the bushes, looking for food.
Synonyms
A small brown bird from the United States with a loud musical song
Surface Forms
Morphology
Carolina + wren
This is a straightforward place-name + species compound: 'Carolina' (a geographical name) + 'wren' (a small bird) denotes a wren from the Carolina region, so the meaning is directly inferable from the constituents. Place-based animal names are cross-linguistically common, making the expression transparent to a B1 learner who knows both words.
Etymology
Carolina wren gets its name from the place and the bird: Carolina is the area in the south-east of the United States where people first noticed it, and wren is a small, loud songbird. So the name simply means 'a wren from Carolina'.
