edible snail
- noun
- /ˈɛdɪbəl sneɪl/
:
caracol comestible
- Many gourmet restaurants serve edible snails as a delicacy.
Examples
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The edible snail is a delicacy in France.
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Many restaurants serve edible snails as an appetizer.
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Escargot is a French dish made from the edible snail Helix pomatia.
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It takes special skill to prepare an edible snail properly for consumption.
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In many European recipes, edible snails are a delicacy often served with garlic and butter.
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The chef prepared a delicious dish using edible snails harvested from the local farm.
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During the festival, visitors enjoyed a special pasta dish made with edible snails and herbs.
Synonyms
14
1.0
A cooked land animal with a spiral shell eaten as food, often with garlic butter
9
9.3
A cooked land snail served in garlic butter as a fancy French food
A large land snail that people eat and that chefs use in French dishes
How Edible
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is fully compositional: 'edible' (suitable to be eaten) modifies 'snail' to indicate a snail that can be eaten or is used as food. This simple adjective + noun pattern is a basic, cross-linguistically common construction, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The noun edible snail comes from the old idea of keeping certain snails in gardens or small pens and fattening them so they would be edible 'to eat'. That's why edible snail means a type of snail used for 'food' today.