red-breasted nuthatch
- noun
- /ˈrɛdˌbrɛstɪd ˈnʌθˌhætʃ/
- US
:
sitta de pecho rojo
- I spotted a red-breasted nuthatch while hiking in the northern forest.
Examples
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During the winter, red-breasted nuthatches often visit feeders in backyards.
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The red-breasted nuthatch perched on a branch, singing its cheerful melody.
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Oh, red-breasted nuthatches, black-capped and chestnut-sided chickadees, western tanagers.
Blog text (10)
Synonyms
A small bird with blue-grey back and red breast that lives in northern pine forests
Surface Forms
Morphology
red-breasted + nuthatch
The noun phrase is fully compositional: 'red-breasted' describes having a red breast and 'nuthatch' names a type of songbird, so a learner who knows both parts can infer it is a nuthatch with a red (rufous) breast. This adjectival + noun descriptive pattern is common cross-linguistically and not idiomatic, making the meaning directly derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
The bird called red-breasted nuthatch gets its name from two clear pictures: its red chest, the red-breasted part, and its habit of jamming nuts into tree bark and pecking them open, which is why people call it a nuthatch. So the name links how the bird looks and what it does, helping you remember this small songbird.
