Cygnus olor

9.9

A large white swan from Europe and Asia often kept in parks and usually quiet

noun

Specialized

: Cygnus olor

The elegant Cygnus olor glided gracefully across the lake, barely making a sound.

Examples

Wildlife biologists track populations of Cygnus olor to monitor their impact on local ecosystems.
The Cygnus olor is often seen gliding gracefully on lakes.
In many city parks, visitors admire the beauty of Cygnus olor as the swans swim silently by.
Many people admire the beauty of the Cygnus olor in parks.
In many city parks, visitors admire the beauty of Cygnus olor as the swans swim silently by.
The elegant Cygnus olor glided gracefully across the lake, barely making a sound.
Wildlife biologists track populations of Cygnus olor to monitor their impact on local ecosystems.

Synonyms

mute swan

vsCygnus olor

4.6

A large white bird with a long neck that lives on lakes and rivers and is quieter than other swans

is the formal scientific name used in biology and formal classification

Surface Forms

Cygnus olor singular

Cygnus olors plural

Morphology

Cygnus + olor

The genus name 'Cygnus' clearly signals 'swan', so a learner who knows the constituents can infer this is a swan species; however the species epithet 'olor' is not defined here (and is Latin), so the specific sense 'mute swan' is not predictable from the parts. Scientific Latin binomials are partly compositional for taxonomy but require extra lexical or domain knowledge to recover the precise meaning, giving only partial transparency.

Etymology

Cygnus olor is the scientific name made from old words for 'swan'. The parts Cygnus and olor both mean 'swan', so the name is like 'swan swan' and clearly points to the quiet white 'mute swan' it names.