common European earwig
- noun
- /ˈkɒmən jʊəˈrəːpɪən ˈɪəwɪɡ/
- UK
:
tijereta común
- Gardeners sometimes worry that the common European earwig will damage their flower bulbs.
Examples
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The common European earwig is often found hiding under flowerpots or stones in gardens.
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Despite its fearsome pincers, the common European earwig rarely bites humans.
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The common European earwig is often found in gardens.
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Many gardeners dislike the common European earwig.
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Gardeners sometimes worry that the common European earwig will damage their flower bulbs.
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Despite its fearsome pincers, the common European earwig rarely bites humans.
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The common European earwig is often found hiding under flowerpots or stones in gardens.
Synonyms
6
6.6
A small insect with pincers at the back of its body
A small insect with pincers at its tail that often lives in gardens and may damage plants
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is a straightforward composition: 'common' (frequent) + 'European' (from Europe) + 'earwig' (the insect) yields an earwig species typical in Europe. This adjectival + demonym + noun pattern is cross-linguistically regular, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily infer the referent.
Etymology
Common European earwig is the name for a common European insect called an earwig. One old story says people thought these insects would crawl into a person's ear ('crawl into the ear'), so the name stuck, and today Common European earwig simply means the small garden insect that can sometimes damage flower bulbs.