Asiatic flying squirrel
- noun
:
ardilla voladora asiática
- The Asiatic flying squirrel uses folds of skin to glide effortlessly from tree to tree at night.
Examples
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Researchers spotted a rare Asiatic flying squirrel high in the Himalayan forest canopy.
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The Asiatic flying squirrel glided gracefully from tree to tree.
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Unlike other rodents, the Asiatic flying squirrel can travel long distances through the air.
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Have you ever seen an Asiatic flying squirrel in the wild?
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The Asiatic flying squirrel uses folds of skin to glide effortlessly from tree to tree at night.
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Researchers spotted a rare Asiatic flying squirrel high in the Himalayan forest canopy.
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Unlike other rodents, the Asiatic flying squirrel can travel long distances through the air.
Synonyms
1
3.9
A small night animal that glides between trees using skin flaps
A very large Asian flying squirrel that glides between trees
Very large flying squirrels from Asia that glide between trees
A small tree animal like a squirrel that glides using a fold of skin
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'Asiatic' = from Asia, 'flying' = moving through the air (here extended to gliding), and 'squirrel' = the arboreal rodent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer a squirrel from Asia that flies/glides. The slight extension of 'flying' to mean 'gliding' is a common, transparent lexical extension cross-linguistically, so no prior exposure is needed.
Etymology
The noun Asiatic flying squirrel names a small animal from Asia: Asiatic means from Asia, flying shows how it moves, and squirrel tells you it is a tree rodent. It has a stretch of skin between its legs that acts like a wing so it can glide from tree to tree, and that is why people call it 'flying' even though it does not truly fly.