king penguin
1
3.0
- noun
- /kɪŋ ˈpɛŋɡwɪn/
:
pingüino rey
- Two king penguins tracked by satellite during winter foraging trips from Possession Island were gone for more than 50 days and traveled 1,600 to 1,800 km away from their chicks (Ptz et al. 1999).
Fur seals, king Penguins around Antarctica, their numbers have shot up.
- Fur seals, king Penguins around Antarctica, their numbers have shot up.
Examples
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An entire population of king penguins is severely threatened right now as their numbers continue to go down.
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King penguins lay their eggs here.
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Fur seals, king Penguins around Antarctica, their numbers have shot up.
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In South Georgia, we visited a colony of beautiful king penguins, which reportedly had 250,000 nesting pairs; it was an incredible sight.
Academic text (1994) -
" Chinstrap penguins, king penguins, giant petrels, and stormy petrels—you name it, it was there.
Blog text (23) -
Emperor penguins on ice, or king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) on bare ground, often stand nearly foot to foot among thousands of neighbors when incubating their one egg.
Academic text (2008) -
In South Georgia, we visited a colony of king penguins, which reportedly had 250,000 nesting pairs; it was an incredible sight.
Synonyms
A large penguin with bright yellow and orange markings that lives on islands near Antarctica
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a compositional compound: the headword names a type of penguin, so a B1 learner who knows 'king' and 'penguin' can infer it denotes a penguin distinguished by size/status or prominence. Such modifier+noun species names are cross-linguistically common, making the meaning immediately understandable from the constituents.
Etymology
King penguin may get its name from the bird's large size and the bright orange head patches that look like a royal 'crown'. Because people saw a big bird with a 'crown', they called it a king, so today king penguin means this particular large penguin type.