pill bug
- noun
- /pɪl bʌg/
- US
:
bicho bola
- Aquatic isopods resemble roly-polies (pill bugs) somewhat because roly-polies are terrestrial isopods.
Examples
-
Our pill bugs' only hope of survival, is our mistress of the high wire, Rosie!
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She looks like a pill bug.
Fiction book (1998) -
If you watch closely, you can see the mass escape: ants, pinchers, and pill bugs flee the burning forest, every man for himself.
Fiction book (1992) -
Aimed directly at the flypaper, are Tuck and Roll, the pill bug cannonballs!
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In fact, they can look damn-near cute—almost like little roly-poly pill bugs.
Blog text (32) -
To the untrained eye, larval cephalopods resemble alien heads, krill look like diminutive shrimp, and amphipods look like tiny pill bugs.
Academic text (2011) -
He found a pill bug under a rock in the garden.
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The children were excited to see a pill bug roll into a ball when they touched it.
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After a rain, you can often spot pill bugs crawling on the ground, seeking shelter.
Synonyms
623
1.0
A small insect like an ant or beetle
341
1.0
A small animal with a body in three parts, six legs and often wings
Small land animals like pill bugs that roll into a ball when threatened
Small grey land animals with many legs that live under logs and eat dead plants
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is compositionally transparent: 'pill' conveys a pill-like shape/appearance and 'bug' denotes a small creature, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a small, pill-shaped critter. They might not know precise taxonomy or the rolling behaviour, but the basic referent is predictable from the constituents and common noun–noun compounding patterns.
Etymology
Pill bug gets its name from the animal's habit of curling up into a tight round shape that looks like a small pill. People call it a bug because it is a small crawling creature, so the name reminds us that this little animal rolls into a ball for protection.