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hooded sheldrake

hooded sheldrake

9.9
A small North American duck whose male has a large fan-shaped crest
  • noun
  • /ˈhʊdɪd ˈʃɛldrɪk/
  • US
translation icon : pato de capucha
  • The male hooded sheldrake is famous for its striking black-and-white crest.

Examples

  • We spotted a hooded sheldrake gliding quietly across the pond at dawn.

  • During migration season, several hooded sheldrakes visit the wetlands near our town.

  • The hooded sheldrake is known for its distinctive crest.

  • Have you ever seen a hooded sheldrake in the wild?

  • During migration season, several hooded sheldrakes visit the wetlands near our town.

  • The male hooded sheldrake is famous for its striking black-and-white crest.

  • We spotted a hooded sheldrake gliding quietly across the pond at dawn.

Synonyms

Lophodytes cucullatus
vshooded sheldrake
  • Specialized
9.9

A small North American duck whose male has tall round feathers on his head

is the common English name used instead of Latin
hooded merganser
vshooded sheldrake
  • US
9.9

A small duck from North America with a round crest on the male's head

is a less common English variant used instead of the familiar name

Surface Forms

Morphology

hooded + sheldrake

This is a straightforward adjective + noun combination: 'hooded' means having a hood-like marking and 'sheldrake' is a type of duck, so the phrase denotes a sheldrake with a hood or crest. The meaning follows regular English attributive adjective patterns and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the sense.

Etymology

Hooded sheldrake gets its name from the bird's look: hooded refers to the male's hood-like crest and sheldrake means a male 'duck', so the name describes a small duck whose male shows a striking hood of feathers.