bucktoothed smile
- noun
- /ˈbʌkˌtuːtθd smaɪl/
:
sonrisa de dientes salientes
- Her bucktoothed smile was so warm that everyone instantly felt at ease around her.
Examples
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Her bucktoothed smile always brightens the room.
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I love his bucktoothed smile when he laughs.
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Children sometimes feel self-conscious about their bucktoothed smile, but it can be incredibly charming.
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He flashed a bucktoothed smile when he heard the good news, unable to hide his excitement.
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Children sometimes feel self-conscious about their bucktoothed smile, but it can be incredibly charming.
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He flashed a bucktoothed smile when he heard the good news, unable to hide his excitement.
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Her bucktoothed smile was so warm that everyone instantly felt at ease around her.
Surface Forms
Morphology
bucktoothed + smile
The phrase is compositionally built: 'bucktoothed' describes having prominent front teeth and combined with 'smile' yields a smile that shows such teeth. This adjective+noun pattern is productive and follows transparent English morphology, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words and basic compounding can infer the meaning.
Etymology
Bucktoothed smile comes from a simple image: the words buck and toothed together describe front teeth that stick out, like a 'rabbit's' or a 'deer's' teeth. That's why the phrase means a smile that shows those sticking-out front teeth and often looks warm or charming.
