fairy circle
- noun
- /ˈfɛri ˈsɜrkl/
- Specialized
:
anillo de hadas
- We discovered a fairy circle in the meadow, its mushrooms forming a perfect ring.
Examples
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Scientists studied the soil inside the fairy circle to understand fungal growth patterns.
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Look at that beautiful fairy circle in the meadow.
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Local legends say that dancing fairies create every fairy circle that appears in the field.
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Wow, what a stunning fairy circle!
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We discovered a fairy circle in the meadow, its mushrooms forming a perfect ring.
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Scientists studied the soil inside the fairy circle to understand fungal growth patterns.
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Local legends say that dancing fairies create every fairy circle that appears in the field.
Synonyms
1
7.7
A ring of mushrooms that grows on grass from fungus under the ground
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound literally combines 'fairy' and 'circle', so a B1 learner would likely infer a circular thing associated with fairies (a folkloric or supernatural circle). However, the specific referent—a particular ecological phenomenon (bare patches in grasslands/deserts)—is a conventionalized name not strictly predictable from the constituents, so the relation is only partly transparent.
Etymology
Fairy circle comes from old stories that tiny fairies danced in a circle, and mushrooms grew where they stepped. In nature, fungus often grows outward under the ground so mushrooms appear at the edge, so the name now means 'a ring of mushrooms'.