black swan
- noun
- /blæk swæn/
- Australian
:
cisne negro
- Black swans with red bills paddled languidly on its mirror-smooth lake amid a larger, looser flotilla of white geese and mallard ducks.
Examples
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But the programmers had not included any animals either: no squirrels, foxes, or even any of the black swans for which the palace had been so famous.
Fiction book (1998) -
The black swan is known for its striking appearance, with glossy black feathers and a vibrant red bill.
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During our visit to Australia, we were amazed to see a black swan gracefully swimming in the pond.
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In the nature reserve, several black swans can be spotted floating elegantly on the water.
Synonyms
A large Australian swan with black feathers and a red beak
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an unpredictable or unforeseen event with extreme consequences' is a metaphorical, domain-specific sense that cannot be compositionally derived from 'black' (a color) + 'swan' (a bird); a B1 learner who knows the two words would most likely interpret it literally. Although the metaphor has become widespread in higher-level discourse, its idiomatic sense (coined by Taleb) is not predictable from the constituents and requires prior exposure.
Etymology
Black swan names a real Australian bird with black feathers and a red bill, so the phrase is simply used to talk about the actual animal.
