rice rat
- noun
- /raɪs ræt/
- US
:
rata de arroz
- In the southeastern United States, the rice rat is commonly found in areas with abundant vegetation.
Examples
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Researchers observed that rice rats thrive in grassy wetlands, where they build complex nests.
-
RIOMV has been identified in the pigmy rice rat (Oligoryzomys microtis) in Bolivia (17).
Academic text (2012) -
The rice rat is known for its agility as it navigates through the dense grass of its marshy habitat.
Synonyms
A small tough rat that lives in marshes in the southeastern United States and Mexico
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a transparent noun-noun compound in which 'rice' restricts the kind or habitat of 'rat' (a rat associated with rice fields or marshy areas). There is no idiomatic or metaphorical shift; the meaning is directly compositional and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the sense.
Etymology
Rice rat probably comes from rats that lived in rice fields or marsh grass, so people named the animal for the rice it ate and the rat they saw. So the name links to 'rice' and explains why it means a tough, quick marsh 'rat' today.
