coal miner's lung
1
6.2
- noun
- /koʊl ˈmaɪnərz lʌŋ/
- Specialized
:
pulmón de minero
- Many retired miners suffer from coal miner's lung due to years spent underground.
Examples
-
Many coal miner's lungs are affected by dust exposure.
-
Prolonged exposure to coal dust can eventually cause coal miner's lung in workers.
-
Early diagnosis of coal miner's lung is essential for preventing further respiratory damage.
-
The doctor diagnosed him with coal miner's lung.
-
Many coal miners develop coal miner's lung due to years of exposure to coal dust.
-
He was diagnosed with coal miner's lung after working in the mine for over a decade.
-
The symptoms of coal miner's lung include persistent cough and breathing difficulties.
Synonyms
5
6.7
A lung disease from breathing coal dust for a long time that often affects miners
1
3.7
A serious lung illness caused by breathing coal dust over many years, often in miners
1
9.9
A long-term lung disease caused by breathing in dust at work
1
9.9
A lung disease that happens when you breathe in metal or rock dust and scars the lungs
A lung disease from breathing in coal dust over a long time
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'coal' specifies the type of miner, 'miner' indicates the affected person, and 'lung' names the organ — together denoting a lung condition affecting coal miners. This possessive/compound structure is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can reasonably infer the MWE refers to a lung disease caused by coal-mining exposure.
Etymology
Coal miner's lung comes from miners who spent years working in dark coal mines and breathing in black coal dust that filled their lungs. Because the dust made their lungs dark and sore, the phrase came to mean 'a lung disease caused by coal dust', also called 'black lung'.