brown thrush
- noun
- /braʊn θrʌʃ/
- US
:
tordo marrón
- We spotted a brown thrush singing in the backyard early this morning.
Examples
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The brown thrush is known for its impressive mimicking abilities.
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A brown thrush built its nest in the dense bushes near the river.
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Look at that brown thrush!
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I spotted a brown thrush in my backyard.
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We spotted a brown thrush singing in the backyard early this morning.
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A brown thrush built its nest in the dense bushes near the river.
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The brown thrush is known for its impressive mimicking abilities.
Synonyms
1
9.1
A medium-sized songbird that often copies other birds' songs
A large reddish-brown songbird of eastern North America
A large brown bird that sings in eastern North America with a long tail and streaked chest
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward adjective + noun combination: 'brown' (color) modifies 'thrush' (a type of bird), so the meaning — a thrush that is brown — is directly derivable from the parts. There is no idiomatic or metaphorical shift and the compositional color+animal pattern is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words will understand it.
Etymology
Brown thrush comes from the bird's look and its kind: brown for its reddish-brown feathers and thrush for a type of singing bird. So the name gives the idea of 'a brown singing bird', which is why it refers to a large songbird with reddish-brown feathers and an impressive ability to copy other sounds.