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Glite Dictionary
Great Pyrenees

Great Pyrenees

1 4.0
A large white dog with thick fur that guards sheep from wild animals
  • noun
  • /ɡreɪt ˈpɪrəˌniz/
translation icon : Gran Pirineo
  • In this program, children get to learn all about the Great Pyrenees with Cirra's Breed Cards and word puzzles about Cirra, and they read books to Cirra.
  • Great Pyrenees dogs
  • Great Pyrenees guard dogs

Examples

  • A Great Pyrenees is often seen on farms, where it protects animals from predators.

  • However, I do plan to adopt a grey tabby Scottish Fold and a pair of Great Pyrenees.

    Blog text (23)

  • Or possibly a Great Pyrenees.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • When I was in grad school we had a Great Pyrenees great big dog, Iconney.

  • Mackert reached out to pet Gideon, one of her Great Pyrenees guard dogs, and said, "I just want to be here for her and any other women who think the time has come to break away."

    Blog text (17)

  • Great Pyrenees are prodigious barkers because they want to scare predators away so they don't have to go kill them.

    Blog text (10)

  • Cirra is a 105-pound Great Pyrenees who lives in Maine with her handler, Robyn Douglas.

    Academic text (2013)

  • She raises goats, guarded by her two Great Pyrenees dogs, on a modest 20-acre ranch just north of Bonners Ferry, not far from the U.S.-Canadian border.

    Blog text (17)

  • The Great Pyrenees is known for its strong instincts to guard sheep and other livestock.

  • Having a Great Pyrenees can provide security for livestock due to its protective nature.

Surface Forms

Great Pyrenees singular
Great Pyrenees dogs plural

Morphology

great + Pyrenees

The components 'great' (very large) and 'Pyrenees' (a mountain range) signal size and geographic origin, so a B1 learner would guess something large associated with the Pyrenees. However, the fact that this is specifically a breed of dog (used to guard livestock) is not directly derivable from the words alone, so the meaning is only partially predictable without prior exposure.

Etymology

Great Pyrenees comes from where the dogs lived—the Pyrenees mountains—and their large size, since Great means 'large'. Shepherds used these big white dogs to stay with their sheep and scare away wolves, so the name shows they were used 'to guard' sheep.