Angora rabbit
- noun
- /æŋˈɡɔːrə ˈræbɪt/
- Many people choose Angora rabbits as pets because of their soft and fluffy fur.
Examples
-
The farmer raises Angora rabbits to produce luxurious wool for his knitting business.
-
She has wonderful hair... soft and silky, like a lovely angora rabbit.
-
She learned how to groom her Angora rabbits to keep their long hair untangled and beautiful.
Synonyms
A goat, rabbit, or cat breed with long silky hair used for wool and kept as a pet
How Soft
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is fully compositional: 'Angora' names a breed known for long, silky hair and 'rabbit' is the animal, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer 'a rabbit of the Angora breed with long, silky fur.' This modifier + noun pattern is a straightforward, cross-linguistically common construction, making the MWE immediately understandable from its parts.
Etymology
Angora rabbit comes from the old city name Angora in Turkey, where people kept rabbits with very long, silky hair. Those rabbits were used to make soft 'angora' wool, so Angora rabbit simply means a rabbit kept for its soft 'wool'.