Pagophila eburnea
- proper noun
- Specialized
- The pristine white plumage makes Pagophila eburnea easily identifiable among Arctic gulls.
Examples
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Birdwatchers in Newfoundland were excited to spot a Pagophila eburnea during the winter migration.
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The Pagophila eburnea is increasingly rare due to climate change affecting its Arctic habitat.
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The Pagophila eburnea is often seen in icy waters.
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Did you know that the Pagophila eburnea migrates to England?
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Birdwatchers in Newfoundland were excited to spot a Pagophila eburnea during the winter migration.
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The Pagophila eburnea is increasingly rare due to climate change affecting its Arctic habitat.
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The pristine white plumage makes Pagophila eburnea easily identifiable among Arctic gulls.
Synonyms
A white sea bird that lives in the Arctic and sometimes moves south to places like England or New Brunswick
Surface Forms
Morphology
Pagophila + eburnea
This is a Latin binomial: Pagophila names the gull genus (so the referent as a gull is clear), while eburnea is an epithet meaning ‘ivory’ in Latin. The overall meaning (the ivory gull) is compositional in principle, but it depends on knowledge of taxonomic naming and a non‑English Latin adjective that B1 learners typically lack, so the relation is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Pagophila eburnea comes from old words: pago and phila, meaning 'ice-loving', and eburnea, meaning 'ivory'. So the name fits a white gull that lives on Arctic ice.