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Glite Dictionary
great crested grebe

great crested grebe

9.5
A large water bird with black ear tufts and fancy head feathers
  • noun
  • UK
translation icon : somormujo lavanco
  • While birdwatching by the lake, I spotted a pair of great crested grebes gracefully diving for fish.

Examples

  • Continuing on, we stopped for some nice scope views of Australasian great crested grebes, and then decided to head towards Okarito.

    Blog text (32)

  • Continuing on, we stopped for some nice scope views of Australasian great crested grebes, and then decided to head towards Okarito.

    Blog text (32)

  • The great crested grebe is known for its striking black ear tufts during the breeding season.

  • We were excited to see a great crested grebe performing its elaborate courtship dance on the water.

Synonyms

Podiceps cristatus
vsgreat crested grebe
  • Specialized
9.9

A large water bird with black ear tufts that lives on lakes

is the everyday English name used in general nontechnical contexts

Surface Forms

great crested grebe singular
great crested grebes plural

Morphology

great + crested + grebe

The meaning is compositionally built from 'great' (large) + 'crested' (having a head tuft) + 'grebe' (a water bird), so a learner who knows the constituents can infer it refers to a large grebe with a crest. This literal adjective + noun structure is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English noun-modifier patterns, making it immediately comprehensible.

Etymology

The name great crested grebe comes from the bird's look: the word great means 'large', crested points to the showy feather 'crest' on its head, and grebe is the name for this kind of water bird, so the name refers to a 'large crested grebe'.