northern pocket gopher
- noun
- /ˈnɔrðərn ˈpɑkɪt ˈɡoʊfər/
- US
:
gofre del norte
- The northern pocket gopher uses its cheek pouches to carry food back to its burrow.
Examples
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The northern pocket gopher can often be found creating mounds in open fields.
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Farmers sometimes struggle with northern pocket gopher populations ruining their crops.
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Biologists tagged several northern pocket gophers to study their underground behavior.
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The northern pocket gopher is a fascinating burrowing animal.
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Have you ever seen a northern pocket gopher in the wild?
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Farmers sometimes struggle with northern pocket gopher populations that damage their crops.
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Biologists tagged several northern pocket gophers to learn more about their behavior in the wild.
Synonyms
11
6.4
A small animal like a mouse that lives in tunnels and has cheek pouches
A small gopher with greyish-brown fur that lives in the western and central United States
A small animal that lives in tunnels and carries food in cheek pouches
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a descriptive species name whose meaning is directly built from its parts: 'northern' (located in the north), 'pocket' (referring to the characteristic fur-lined cheek pouches), and 'gopher' (a burrowing rodent). A B1 learner who knows these constituent words can compositionally infer that this is a gopher species found in northern areas with pocket-like cheek pouches, so the expression is immediately comprehensible.
Etymology
Northern pocket gopher comes from the animal's look and place: pocket points to the fur-lined cheek pouches it uses to carry food, gopher is a small animal that digs and lives underground, and northern shows where it lives. So the name paints a picture of a burrowing rodent with 'pockets' in its cheeks found in northern areas.