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Glite Dictionary
Yorkshire terrier

Yorkshire terrier

2 3.4
A very small dog with long silky grey and tan fur from Yorkshire, England
  • noun
  • /ˈjɔrkʃɪr ˈtɛriər/
translation icon : Yorkshire terrier
  • Her elderly Yorkshire terrier, shampooed, brushed, and adorned with a pink ribbon.
  • a tiny Yorkshire terrier

Jack Russell, Chihuahua, Pug, Yorkshire terrier, Cocker spaniel, Staffordshire terrier.

Examples

  • She takes her Yorkshire terrier for a walk every morning in the park.

  • It's my dog - a yorkshire terrier.

    Gridlock (2017)

  • "Yorkshire terriers are small," I said.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • I look like Halle Berry's Yorkshire terrier.

    Breakin' All the Rules (2004)

  • It's not easy to be convinced these days that both Yorkshire terriers and St. Bernards originated from wolves.

    Blog text (5)

  • A Nevada woman was arrested, and animal control officers seized her Yorkshire terrier after police say witnesses saw her beating the dog in a Boston train station bathroom.

    Blog text (25)

  • BOSTON (AP) -- A Nevada woman was arrested and animal control officers seized her Yorkshire terrier after police say witnesses saw her beating the dog in a Boston train station bathroom.

    Blog text (25)

  • The tiny Yorkshire terrier has a long, silky coat that shines in the sunlight.

  • At the pet store, they showcased a playful Yorkshire terrier that was looking for a new home.

Surface Forms

Yorkshire terrier singular
Yorkshire terriers plural

Morphology

Yorkshire + terrier

The compound combines a place name 'Yorkshire' with 'terrier' (a small dog breed), so the meaning 'a terrier from Yorkshire / a breed originating in Yorkshire' is directly derivable from the constituents. Place‑name + breed naming is a common, compositional pattern across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer this meaning.

Etymology

Yorkshire terrier was named after Yorkshire in England and the small working dog type, the terrier. One popular story says workers bred tiny terriers to 'catch rats' in mills and homes, so they were called dogs 'from Yorkshire'. That's why Yorkshire terrier now means a very small, lively pet with a long, silky coat.