little owl

1 5.1

A small bird that hunts mice with a round head and yellow eyes

noun
/ˈlɪtəl aʊl/

: mochuelo

You know, like little owls with the little pine sprays.

Examples

Researchers studied the habits of the little owl to understand its breeding patterns in the wild.
And I got this cute little owl from Francesca's.
And I have this cute little owl that I had in my dorm that I brought to my room.
The little owl perched on a branch, its yellow eyes scanning the ground for insects.
During the summer evenings, the little owl can often be heard hooting in the nearby woods.

Synonyms

Athene noctua

vslittle owl

Specialized

9.9

A small owl found in Europe and parts of Asia with a rounded head and bright yellow eyes

is the common everyday name used outside scientific texts

Surface Forms

little owl singular

little owls plural

Morphology

little + owl

The meaning 'a small species of owl' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'little' (small) with 'owl' (the bird); this is a straightforward adjectival modification rather than an idiom. The construction follows common noun phrase composition found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand it.

Etymology

Little owl is a name that comes from a simple picture: people saw a very small owl sitting on fence posts or in trees and called it little. So the phrase now means 'a small kind of owl'.