eastern cottontail
- noun
- /ˈiːstərn ˈkɒtənˌteɪl/
- Specialized
:
conejo de cola de algodón oriental
- The eastern cottontail is a common sight in my backyard during the spring.
Examples
-
For example, an index of the population of eastern cottontail rabbits in eastern Illinois declined 40 percent between 1956 and 1989, a direct result of the conversion of hayfields and pasture to croplands.
Academic text (1998) -
In the early morning, we often see an eastern cottontail hopping through the garden.
-
The fluffy white tail of the eastern cottontail makes it easy to spot in the grass.
Synonyms
7
5.2
A small rabbit with grey or brown fur and a white tail
1
2.0
A small North American rabbit with grey or brown fur and a white underside to its tail
A common rabbit with a white tail that lives in eastern parts of the United States
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward adjective + noun composition: 'eastern' (from the east) modifies 'cottontail' (a rabbit with a fluffy white tail), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer it denotes a cottontail found in eastern regions. This species-naming pattern is compositional and cross-linguistically common, making the meaning immediately derivable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
Eastern cottontail comes from a simple picture: the rabbit's small, fluffy white tail looks like a puff of 'cotton', so people called it a cottontail, and eastern shows where it lives in North America. That's why the name means a common rabbit with a white, cotton-like tail found in the east.