New World sparrow
- noun
- /nuː wɜrld ˈspɛroʊ/
- Specialized
:
gorrión del Nuevo Mundo
- The white-throated New World sparrow is often heard singing in North American woodlands.
Examples
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Unlike the house sparrow, a true Old World species, the New World sparrow belongs to a different family.
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Many New World sparrows migrate south for the winter.
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Conservationists are concerned about declining New World sparrow populations due to habitat loss.
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The New World sparrow is known for its beautiful song.
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Conservationists are concerned about declining New World sparrow populations due to habitat loss.
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The white-throated New World sparrow is often heard singing in North American woodlands.
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Many New World sparrow species migrate south for the winter.
Synonyms
38
1.0
A small brown or gray bird that sings and lives near people
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is fully compositional: 'New World' (the Americas) + 'sparrow' yields 'a sparrow from the New World/Americas', so the meaning is directly derivable from the parts. This type of region + animal naming is a common, cross-linguistic pattern and would be accessible to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
New World sparrow gets its name from early explorers who found small birds in the Americas that looked like the familiar European sparrow, so they called them New World 'sparrows'. They are not closely related to the 'Old World' sparrow, so the name helps you remember they are small American songbirds from a different family.