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Glite Dictionary
mock sun

mock sun

9.9
A bright spot beside the sun when ice crystals bend sunlight
  • noun
  • /mɑk sʌn/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sol falso
  • During the winter months, you can often see a mock sun forming around the sun due to ice crystals in the atmosphere.

Examples

  • Today, we observed a mock sun in the sky, an enchanting bright spot on either side of the sun.

  • As we walked through the snowy landscape, the mock sun appeared, creating beautiful halos around the sun.

  • A mock sun seemed a powerful something, and what with Canaan's foolishness over messages old and Greek, some sixth sense said,

    Fiction book (1999)

Synonyms

sundog
vsmock sun
1 9.9

A bright spot that appears next to the sun when sunlight hits ice crystals in the sky

is the same phenomenon but called by another common name
parhelion
vsmock sun
  • Specialized
9.9

A bright spot that appears in the sky beside the Sun when sunlight passes through ice crystals

is the same phenomenon but uses a technical or scientific name

Surface Forms

mock sun singular
mock suns plural

Morphology

mock + Sun

The compound is compositionally transparent: 'mock' (appearing to be real but imitated) + 'sun' yields the straightforward idea of something that looks like the sun but is not the actual sun. While the specific meteorological explanation (sundog/parhelion) is specialized, a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to an apparent or 'false' sun-like bright spot.

Etymology

The name mock sun comes from the idea of a mock 'false' sun that appears when tiny ice crystals in the air bend sunlight into a bright spot beside the real sun, so it looks like another sun. That's why the name refers to a bright spot next to the sun, also called a 'sundog'.