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Glite Dictionary
Brittany spaniel

Brittany spaniel

5.4
A medium-sized energetic hunting dog from France with a short tail and an orange-and-white or liver-and-white coat
  • noun
  • /ˈbrɪtəni ˈspæn.jəl/
translation icon : spaniel de Bretaña
  • I took my Brittany spaniel for a run in the park, and he loved every minute of it.

Examples

  • The energetic Brittany spaniel dashed after the ball as soon as I threw it.

  • Her Brittany spaniel has a beautiful orange-and-white coat that shines in the sunlight.

  • It's the size of a Brittany spaniel.

    Fiction book (1990)

Surface Forms

Brittany spaniel singular
Brittany spaniels plural

Morphology

Brittany + spaniel

The compound is compositionally built from a place name 'Brittany' and the noun 'spaniel' (a type of dog), so a learner who knows both words will infer it denotes a spaniel associated with Brittany. This place-name + breed naming pattern is common cross-linguistically, so while finer breed details (size, coat) aren’t fully specified, the basic meaning is transparently derivable.

Etymology

Brittany spaniel gets its name from the French area Brittany and the older word spaniel, which once meant a type of 'hunting dog'. So the name tells you it is a lively hunting dog from Brittany and explains why it is known for being active and good at finding birds.