American cockroach
- noun
- /əˈmɛrɪkən ˈkɑkroʊtʃ/
- US
:
cucaracha americana
- During the summer, it's not unusual to find an American cockroach flying into the porch light at night.
Examples
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The American cockroach, known for its large size, can often be seen scurrying across kitchen floors in warm climates.
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And it was absolutely covered in American cockroaches, about the size of an almond nut.
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After moving to Florida, I quickly learned that the American cockroach is a common sight in many homes.
Synonyms
A large reddish-brown cockroach from the southern United States now found worldwide
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is directly compositional: 'American' (from the United States) qualifies 'cockroach' (the insect), so a learner who knows both words will infer it denotes a cockroach associated with America. This naming pattern (nationality/adjective + animal) is cross-linguistically common and remains transparent even if the species now occurs worldwide.
Etymology
American cockroach gets its name from a simple idea: it was first common in the southern United States, so people put American to show where it came from and cockroach to name the insect, which is why the phrase means 'a large cockroach from America'.
