rock wallaby
- noun
- Australian
:
wallaby de roca
- We spotted a rock wallaby hopping nimbly across the boulders at dusk.
Examples
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The rock wallaby is well adapted to life in rugged terrain and steep cliffs.
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The rock wallaby is known for its impressive leaping ability across rocky terrain.
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Conservationists are working to protect the habitat of the endangered rock wallaby.
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The rock wallaby jumped gracefully over the rocks.
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Have you ever seen a rock wallaby in the wild?
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In Australia, the rock wallaby often seeks refuge in caves during the day.
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Wildlife enthusiasts spotted a rock wallaby scaling the cliffs near the nature reserve.
Synonyms
A small animal like a kangaroo with long legs that lives among rocks in Australia
A small Australian marsupial like a wallaby that lives on rocky cliffs
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a wallaby that lives in or among rocks' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'rock' (rocky habitat) with 'wallaby' (a small marsupial). This is a regular English noun–noun compound denoting habitat/association and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
The noun rock wallaby is named for where it lives: imagine a small, nimble wallaby hopping across rocks and hiding in caves among the cliffs. So the name simply means 'a small Australian wallaby that lives among rocks and cliffs'.
