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Glite Dictionary
Little Dog

Little Dog

3 8.9
A small group of stars in the northern sky east of Orion that contains the bright star Procyon
  • proper noun
translation icon : Can menor
  • It's so weird to be in this moment because 10 years ago, if you would've told me that I would be terrified of a little dog dying.

Examples

  • When looking for constellations, many find Little Dog easy to spot near Orion.

  • The constellation Little Dog, also known as Canis Minor, shines brightly in the night sky.

  • Astronomers often point out Little Dog to novice stargazers during their celestial tours.

Synonyms

Canis Minor
vsLittle Dog
9.0

A small group of stars in the northern sky with the bright star Procyon

is an alternative name for the same constellation

Surface Forms

Little Dog main

Morphology

little + Dog

While the phrase 'little dog' is transparently built from 'little' + 'dog' as 'a small dog', the specific referent — the constellation Canis Minor — is a conventional proper-name sense that cannot be inferred from the constituents alone. A B1 learner who knows the words would not reliably derive the meaning 'a constellation' without prior exposure, so the expression is not compositionally predictable.

Etymology

The constellation Little Dog may come from a simple picture long ago: people imagined the hunter Orion with two dogs and the smaller one was called Little Dog (also 'Canis Minor'). That's why today Little Dog names the small dog-shaped group of stars in the sky.