primary feather
1
5.2
- noun
- /ˈpraɪˌmɛri ˈfɛðər/
- Specialized
:
pluma primaria
- Ornithologists study the primary feathers of birds to understand their flight patterns and behaviors.
Examples
-
He's lost some primary feathers.
-
Hawk owls lack the comblike structures along the outer edge of their primary feathers that give most owls silent flight.
Academic text (2003) -
The bird soared gracefully through the sky, its primary feathers catching the sunlight.
-
During the rehabilitation process, the injured bird began to grow back its primary feathers.
Synonyms
403
1.0
A light flat part of a bird with a thin middle and many thin hair-like parts
2
8.7
A long feather at the outer edge of a bird's wing that helps it fly
1
8.2
Large outer wing feathers that birds use to fly
1
4.5
A large stiff feather on a bird's wing or tail that helps it fly
A long outer flight feather on a bird's wing that helps it fly
How Long
- Specialized
1
5.2
4
2.4
- Specialized
1
3.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'one of the main long feathers on the outer edge of a bird's wing' is directly derivable from combining 'primary' (main/first) with 'feather' (a bird's plume). This simple adjective+noun compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Primary feather is a simple name from watching birds: primary means 'main' or 'first' and feather is a bird's feather. These long feathers at the outer edge of the wing are the main ones used for 'flight', so the name explains their job.