sea horse
2
2.5
- noun
- /siː hɔrs/
:
caballito de mar
- It would be really neat, she said, maybe even use sea horses for the knights if she could figure a way to fasten them onto the sticks without messing up their tails.
Examples
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A sea horse.
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Pipe fish and their relatives, the sea horses, are also cases that have male parental care.
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You ever think about adding sea horses to the tank?
Fiction book (1994) -
You're in the middle of the ocean... surrounded by tiny little sea horses.
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well into sea horse
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I know it was a man, though, because the voice was deep and had come from somewhere above little gold sea horses that floated in an ocean of royal blue tie.
Fiction book (2001) -
I'd even be willing to do a gender trade-off, like sea horses; men have the pouch, so they carry the baby to term with fetal transfer from the woman.
Blog text (28) -
At the aquarium, I watched a sea horse swim gracefully among the seaweed.
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The sea horse is known for its unique ability to change color for camouflage.
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During our ocean expedition, we spotted a rare sea horse tucked between the coral.
Synonyms
9
2.4
A small sea fish with a head like a horse and a curled tail that swims upright
A small sea fish with a head like a horse and a curled tail
Surface Forms
Morphology
sea + horse
The meaning is directly derivable from 'sea' (marine) + 'horse' (horse-like), describing an animal that lives in the sea and resembles a horse; this compositional naming is straightforward for learners. Many languages form equivalent compounds for this animal, and even if written as one word ('seahorse') the semantic transparency remains clear to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Sea horse comes from the fish's shape: its head looks like a tiny horse and it lives in the sea. Because it swims upright and uses its curled tail to hold seaweed, people called the animal a sea horse, so today the name means 'a small marine fish'.