Peter Lorre

4 6.7

An actor born in Hungary who plays strange, dark characters in films like M

proper noun
/ˈpiːtər ˈlɔːri/

: Peter Lorre

In 'The Maltese Falcon', Peter Lorre portrayed a mysterious and unsettling character.

Examples

Fans of classic cinema admire Peter Lorre for his unique performances in suspense films.
You playing Peter Lorre?

One Week (2000)
Peter Lorre was a pioneering actor known for his role in the movie Peter Lorre.

Surface Forms

Peter Lorre main

Morphology

Peter + Lorre

This is a referential proper name for a specific individual; knowing the constituent tokens 'Peter' and 'Lorre' does not convey that he was a Hungarian-born American actor known for sinister or eccentric film roles. Proper nouns are non-compositional and require cultural or encyclopedic knowledge, so a B1 learner could not derive the MWE meaning from the parts alone.

Etymology

Peter Lorre was an actor born in Hungary who became famous for playing quiet, strange, and creepy characters with a thin voice and wide eyes. That's why his name today often brings to mind a 'sinister or eccentric' character.