rock hopper
1
8.3
- noun
- New Zealand
:
pingüino saltador
- During my trip to the Falkland Islands, I was excited to see rock hoppers jumping over the boulders.
Examples
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The distinctive crest of the rock hopper makes it easily recognizable among other penguins.
-
But the pads the tree peepers use to climb trees show up on the rock hoppers a year later.
Fiction book (1999) -
The rock hopper penguins are a common sight on the rocky shores of New Zealand.
Synonyms
265
1.0
A bird that cannot fly and has short legs and wings shaped like flippers for swimming
A small penguin with bright yellow feathers above its eyes that lives on islands near Antarctica
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound combines 'rock' (stone) + 'hopper' (one who hops) so the meaning 'one that hops on rocks' — i.e. a penguin species known for jumping over rocks — is directly derivable from its parts. This straightforward noun+agent composition is a common and predictable pattern across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the intended referent.
Etymology
The noun rock hopper comes from the bird's habit of jumping between coastal rocks, and the word hopper shows that jumping action. So the name means 'a small penguin that jumps on rocks'.