striped racer
- noun
:
serpiente corredora rayada
- The striped racer darted quickly across the rocky hillside, vanishing among the shrubs.
Examples
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The striped racer slithered quickly across the path.
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Birdwatchers sometimes spot a striped racer sunning itself on a flat stone in the afternoon.
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Because the striped racer moves so fast, it is difficult to photograph in the wild.
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I spotted a striped racer in the bushes.
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The striped racer is known for its slender body and distinctive stripes, making it easy to identify in the wild.
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While hiking in the mountains, I spotted a striped racer quickly slithering through the rocky terrain.
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The bright colors of the striped racer help it blend into its scrubland habitat during the day.
Synonyms
A slender fast snake that lives among rocks and bushes in California
A long thin fast snake that lives on dry rocky hills in western North America
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is directly compositional: 'striped' means having stripes and 'racer' denotes a fast, slender snake, so together they denote a racer snake that has stripes. This simple adjective + noun formation follows regular English modification patterns and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Striped racer comes from a simple picture: the word striped points to the clear lines along its body and the word racer shows it is very 'fast'. So the name helps you remember a slim, striped snake that moves quickly across rocks and small bushes.
