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Glite Dictionary
slave ant

slave ant

9.9
An ant that another species takes as a baby and raises to work in its nest
  • noun
  • /sleɪv ænt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : hormiga esclava
  • Researchers observed slave ant larvae being carried into the nest by the raiding species.

Examples

  • The role of a slave ant is often limited to foraging and tending to the brood.

  • Some species of ants rely on slave ants to conduct most of their colony's labor.

  • The slave ant worked tirelessly for the colony.

  • A slave ant is often raised in a different colony.

  • Researchers observed slave ant larvae being carried into the nest by the raiding species.

  • Some species of ants rely on slave ants to conduct most of their colony's labor.

  • The role of a slave ant is often limited to foraging and tending to the brood.

Surface Forms

slave ant singular
slave ants plural

Morphology

slave + ant

The noun–noun compound is directly compositional: combining 'slave' (someone forced to work) with 'ant' yields an ant that functions as a slave (i.e., captured/forced to work). A B1 learner who knows both constituent words would readily infer this biological extension, and similar constructions exist cross-linguistically, so the meaning is transparent.

Etymology

Slave ant comes from a real behavior: baby ants are taken from one nest by other ants and raised there to do work. Because these captured ants end up doing the work for the ants that took them, they are called slave ants, which explains why the term means an ant captured as a larva and raised to work.