brittle star
- noun
- /ˈbrɪtəl stɑr/
:
estrella frágil
- When disturbed, the brittle star may drop its fragile arms to escape from predators.
Examples
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In the coral reef, the brittle star blends in with the surrounding environment, making it hard to spot.
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Fish hid in the cupolas formed by the brittle stars' legs.
Academic text (1992) -
A few of the brittle stars stood on their tapered leg-tips, a common behavior for which there is no obvious explanation.
Academic text (1992) -
Some animals, like brittle stars, are quite fragile—handle with care.
Academic text (2009) -
The researchers return with reports of crabs, sponges, and brittle stars, as well as volcanic features that they swear look as fresh as the day they were formed.
Academic text (2002) -
Brittle stars, long-legged relatives of the urchins, also pressed their mouths to the mud, searching for buried clams.
Academic text (1992) -
The brittle star gracefully waved its long arms in the water while searching for food.
Synonyms
A small sea animal with a round body and long thin arms like a starfish
A sea animal like a starfish with long thin arms that move easily from a small central body
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'brittle' (fragile) modifies 'star' (star-shaped), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer a fragile, star-like creature (and with the example/context, a marine animal). This follows a common adjective+noun naming pattern that is cross-linguistically transparent, so prior exposure is not required to understand the basic sense.
Etymology
Brittle star gets its name from a clear image: the animal has a small round body with long, thin arms like a star, and those arms are very fragile or brittle and can 'break off' when it is scared. So the name refers to a sea animal that looks like a star and whose arms can easily break.
