Pharaoh's chicken
- noun
:
buitre egipcio
- Unlike many other vultures, the Pharaoh's chicken has striking white plumage and a yellow face.
Examples
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The Pharaoh's chicken is often seen near ancient Egyptian ruins scavenging for food.
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Local folklore attributes good fortune to anyone who spots a Pharaoh's chicken in the wild.
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The Pharaoh's chicken is often seen near ancient ruins.
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Many tourists are fascinated by the Pharaoh's chickens in Egypt.
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The Pharaoh's chicken is often seen near ancient Egyptian ruins scavenging for food.
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Local folklore attributes good fortune to anyone who spots a Pharaoh's chicken in the wild.
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Unlike many other vultures, the Pharaoh's chicken has striking white plumage and a yellow face.
Synonyms
A small mostly white vulture found in parts of Africa and southern Europe and Asia
A small white vulture with a yellow face and thin bill that lives in Africa and southern Asia
Surface Forms
Morphology
Pharaoh's + chicken
The constituent 'Pharaoh's' suggests an Egyptian association and 'chicken' signals a bird, so a B1 learner who knows both words could infer it refers to some Egyptian bird. However, the specific referent is the Egyptian vulture (not a chicken) and this conventional species name is not fully predictable from the parts, making the phrase only partially transparent.
Etymology
Pharaoh's chicken comes from people in and near Egypt seeing this small white vulture around old tombs and ruins and linking it to the pharaohs, while its small size made them call it a chicken. So the name now means 'a small mostly white vulture'.
