prairie wolf
1
6.0
- noun
- /ˈprɛəri wʊlf/
- US
:
coyote
- The prairie wolf howls at night, filling the air with its distinctive sound across the plains.
Examples
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Many people mistakenly think the prairie wolf is a different species from the coyote, but they are actually the same animal.
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In western North America, the prairie wolf is often seen scavenging for food in open fields.
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He turned out to be a prairie wolf, didn't he?
Synonyms
70
2.8
A small wild dog that lives in North America and often howls
A small wild dog that lives in western North America and often howls at night
A small wild dog from North America called the coyote
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is a straightforward composition of 'prairie' (grassland) + 'wolf' (a wild canid), so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer it denotes a wolf-like animal from the prairie. Although historically used as a name for the coyote (a smaller canid), the basic meaning 'wolf of the prairie' is transparent and follows common noun+noun naming patterns across languages.
Etymology
Prairie wolf: The name prairie wolf may come from early settlers who saw a small, wolf-like animal on the open prairie and called it a wolf. That's why the name came to mean the animal we now call the 'coyote'.