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Glite Dictionary
white stork

white stork

4.1
A large white bird with black wings and a long red beak that lives in fields and marshes
  • noun
  • /waɪt stɔrk/
translation icon : cigüeña blanca
  • Every spring, the farmers eagerly await the return of the white stork, which nests near their fields.

Examples

  • In many cultures, the appearance of a white stork is believed to symbolize good fortune and new beginnings.

  • The white storks are there in abundance, too, gliding endlessly overhead.

    Academic text (2001)

  • The white stork gracefully soared above the wetlands, its long red bill visible against the clear blue sky.

Synonyms

stork
vswhite stork
27 2.3

A large water bird with long legs, a long beak, and white and black feathers

is the specific European species rather than the general group
Ciconia ciconia
vswhite stork
  • Specialized
9.9

A large white stork with black wings and a red beak that lives in Europe

is the everyday name rather than the scientific form

Surface Forms

white stork singular
white storks plural

Morphology

white + stork

The meaning is directly compositional: 'white' (color) modifies 'stork' (a bird), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a stork that is white. This descriptive color + noun naming pattern is cross-linguistically common and would be immediately clear to a B1 learner.

Etymology

White stork may come from old European folk stories. One popular story says the stork carried babies to houses or built nests on roofs when spring came, so seeing a white stork came to mean 'bringing babies', 'good luck', and 'fertility'.