long-tailed porcupine
- noun
- Unlike most porcupines, the long-tailed porcupine has relatively short spines and is an agile climber.
Examples
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The long-tailed porcupine is known for its unusually long tail compared to other members of its family.
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Researchers in Borneo observed a long-tailed porcupine foraging for fruit in the rainforest at night.
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The long-tailed porcupine is native to Borneo.
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I saw a long-tailed porcupine in the rainforest.
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Researchers in Borneo observed a long-tailed porcupine foraging for fruit in the rainforest at night.
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The long-tailed porcupine is known for its unusually long tail compared to other members of its family.
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Unlike most porcupines, the long-tailed porcupine has relatively short spines and is an agile climber.
Synonyms
A porcupine with short quills and a long tail found in Borneo and Sumatra
Surface Forms
Morphology
long-tailed + porcupine
The meaning 'a porcupine with a long tail' is directly and transparently composed from 'long-tailed' (having a long tail) + 'porcupine' (the animal). This adjective+noun composition is a regular, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Long-tailed porcupine is a name that gives a simple picture: a porcupine with a much longer tail than other porcupines and with short spines. People used this clear feature to name this 'type of porcupine', so the phrase simply means that particular animal.