gold-tail moth

9.9

A small flying insect with a white furry body and a yellow tuft at the tail

noun

: polilla de cola dorada

The gold-tail moth is easily identified by its distinctive yellow tail tuft.

Examples

Gardeners often spot a gold-tail moth resting on leaves during the summer months.
She took a photograph of a gold-tail moth for her insect collection.
Look at that gold-tail moth resting on the flower!
The gold-tail moth is beautiful!
Gardeners often spot a gold-tail moth resting on leaves during the summer months.
She took a photograph of a gold-tail moth for her insect collection.
The gold-tail moth is easily identified by its distinctive yellow tail tuft.

Synonyms

Euproctis chrysorrhoea

vsgold-tail moth

Specialized

9.9

A small white moth with a furry body and a yellow tail tuft that can cause skin irritation

is the same species but often called by a different common name

brown-tail moth

vsgold-tail moth

8.8

A small brown and white moth whose caterpillars eat the leaves of fruit and shade trees

has an all white furry body with a yellow tail tuft instead

Surface Forms

gold-tail moth singular

gold-tail moths plural

Morphology

gold-tail + moth

The noun is a straightforward descriptive compound: a B1 learner who knows 'gold' (color), 'tail' (body part) and 'moth' (insect) can infer it refers to a moth with a golden tail tuft. This color+body-part+animal compositional pattern is regular in English (and common cross-linguistically), so the meaning is directly derivable from the constituents.

Etymology

Gold-tail moth is named for the small bright yellow tuft at the end of its body. People noticed the tiny gold tail, so that clear picture became the name and helps people spot this moth today.