frothy wave
- noun
:
ola espumosa
- The children laughed and splashed as they jumped over the frothy wave breaking at the edge of the beach.
Examples
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I was up, riding the crest of a frothy wave.
Fiction book (2002) -
As the boat approached the shore, we could see the frothy wave crashing against the rocks.
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Surfers eagerly paddled out to catch the perfect frothy wave rolling in on a sunny afternoon.
How Frothy
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase 'frothy wave' is directly compositional: 'frothy' means covered in foam or bubbles and 'wave' denotes a swell of water, so the combined meaning is a wave covered in foam. This adjective + noun pattern is a regular, cross-linguistically common construction, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
The phrase frothy wave paints a clear picture: a wave topped with white, bubbly frothy foam when the sea breaks or the wind stirs the water. So it simply means 'a wave covered with foam'.