Falco subbuteo
- noun
- Specialized
:
halcón común
- Medieval falconers often trained Falco subbuteo to hunt songbirds.
Examples
-
During migration, Falco subbuteo can be seen across much of Europe and Asia.
-
The Falco subbuteo is admired by birdwatchers for its agile hunting style.
-
The Falco subbuteo is known for its agility in flight.
-
Have you seen a Falco subbuteo in the wild?
-
Medieval falconers often trained Falco subbuteo to hunt songbirds.
-
During migration, Falco subbuteo can be seen across much of Europe and Asia.
-
The Falco subbuteo is admired by birdwatchers for its agile hunting style.
Synonyms
1
9.9
People train a small fast bird of prey to hunt other birds
Surface Forms
Morphology
Falco + subbuteo
This is a Latin scientific binomial: 'Falco' signals the falcon genus but 'subbuteo' is not an ordinary English word and carries no transparent meaning for learners. Species epithets are essentially arbitrary labels rather than compositional phrases, so a B1 learner who knows the parts would not be able to derive the full meaning 'Eurasian hobby' or the descriptive information from the constituents.
Etymology
Falco subbuteo is a Latin name: Falco means 'falcon' and subbuteo may come from a word meaning 'like a small hawk'. The name gives the picture of a small, fast hunting bird that falconers trained to catch songbirds, so it fits the modern Eurasian hobby.