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ducktail

3.4

The tail feathers at the back of a duck

noun
/ˈdʌkˌteɪl/

: pluma de la cola

The bright colors on the ducktail help the bird attract a mate during the spring.

Examples

Children laughed as they watched the duck shake its ducktail after diving underwater.
As the duck swam away, its ducktail created small ripples on the water.
Look at the ducktail on that mallard!
The male duck has a beautiful ducktail.
The bright colors on the ducktail help the bird attract a mate during the spring.
As the duck swam away, its ducktail created small ripples on the water.
Children laughed as they watched the duck shake its ducktail after diving underwater.

Synonyms

tail feather

vsducktail

4 2.4

A feather that grows on a bird's tail

refers only to those plumes when they belong to a specific waterbird

Surface Forms

ducktail singular

ducktails plural

Morphology

ducktail = duck + tail (transparent) = duck + tail

This sense is the literal referent: the tail of a duck, a direct compound of the two nouns.

Etymology

Ducktail simply means the tail of a duck, the feathers at the back the bird uses to steer and make small waves in the water, so the word is literally the duck's 'tail'.