western big-eared bat
- noun
- Specialized
:
murciélago de orejas grandes del oeste
- The western big-eared bat is known for its distinctive, oversized ears.
Examples
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Many caves in California provide a home for the western big-eared bat.
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Scientists are studying the habitat preferences of the western big-eared bat.
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Look at that western big-eared bat!
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The western big-eared bat is known for its large ears.
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Many caves in California provide a home for the western big-eared bat.
-
Scientists are studying the habitat preferences of the western big-eared bat.
-
The western big-eared bat is known for its distinctive, oversized ears.
Synonyms
201
1.0
A small animal that flies at night and finds food by sound
A bat with very long ears that finds insects by sound
A large bat with very large ears that listens for insect sounds
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is fully compositional: 'western' (from the west) + 'big-eared' (having large ears) + 'bat' (the mammal) yields the meaning 'a bat from the west with large ears', which a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can infer. Although 'big-eared' is not listed separately, its structure is transparent (big + ear + -ed) and this descriptive pattern is cross-linguistically common, so the expression is immediately understandable.
Etymology
Western big-eared bat is a very literal name: western means it lives in the western part of North America, big-eared points to its very large ears, and bat is the night-flying animal. So the name helps you remember that this type of bat lives in the west and has very large ears.