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Glite Dictionary
false vampire bat

false vampire bat

8.9
A bat that eats insects instead of drinking blood
  • noun
  • /fɔls ˈvæmpaɪr bæt/
translation icon : murciélago falso vampiro
  • The false vampire bat primarily eats insects rather than drinking blood.

Examples

  • Unlike its name suggests, the false vampire bat poses no threat to livestock or people.

  • Scientists confused the false vampire bat with true vampires due to its large size and fearsome appearance.

  • The false vampire bat is known for its unique appearance.

  • Many people mistake the false vampire bat for a bloodsucker.

  • The false vampire bat primarily eats insects rather than drinking blood.

  • Unlike its name suggests, the false vampire bat poses no threat to livestock or people.

  • Many people mistake the false vampire bat for a bloodsucker.

Synonyms

false vampire
vsfalse vampire bat
9.9

A large bat that eats insects at night, not blood

uses a name that explicitly mentions the animal type rather than a shorter form

Surface Forms

false vampire bat singular
false vampire bats plural

Morphology

false + vampire + bat

The meaning is directly compositional: 'false' marks something as not genuine, so 'false vampire bat' is interpretable as a bat that is not a true vampire bat. The 'false + noun' pattern is cross-linguistically common, allowing B1 learners who know the constituent words to infer it is misleadingly named and does not actually suck blood.

Etymology

The name false vampire bat comes from early observers who saw a large, fierce-looking bat and compared it to a vampire because of its teeth and face. Later people added false when they found it does not 'drink blood' and mostly eats insects, so the name means it only looks like a vampire and is not one.