rose-colored starling
- noun
- /roʊzˈkoʊlərd ˈstɑrlɪŋ/
- US
:
estornino rosado
- She almost ran into a rose-colored starling as it swooped down and caught a locust right in front of her face.
Examples
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While hiking in Asia, I spotted a rare rose-colored starling perched on a branch, its glossy black feathers shining in the sunlight.
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During my trip to India, I was delighted to see a rose-colored starling nesting in a nearby park, showcasing its beautiful pink back.
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The rose-colored starling is known for its striking appearance, often seen gliding gracefully through the trees in search of insects.
Synonyms
20
3.9
A small to medium bird with dark shiny feathers that lives in groups and copies sounds of other birds
3
9.5
A group of birds in the starling family that includes the rose-colored starling
A shiny black bird with a pink back and belly that lives mainly in Asia
A glossy black bird with a pink back and belly that lives mainly in Asia
A shiny black bird with a pink back and belly that lives in Asia
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward adjective+noun compound where the meaning ('a starling that is rose-colored') is compositionally derived from 'rose-colored' (pinkish) + 'starling' (a songbird). The descriptive, literal nature and the common cross-linguistic pattern of color adjective + noun make the sense immediately clear to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Rose-colored starling comes from how the bird looks: people noticed a starling with a rose-colored (pink) back and belly, standing out among other birds. So the name now means 'a starling with pink feathers'.