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Glite Dictionary
snout beetle

snout beetle

7.6
A small beetle with a long nose that often damages crops like grain and nuts
  • noun
  • /snaʊt ˈbiːtəl/
translation icon : gorgojo
  • Many species of snout beetle cause serious damage to stored food products.

Examples

  • The grain harvest was threatened by an infestation of snout beetles.

  • A snout beetle can be recognized by its distinctive elongated nose.

  • The snout beetle is a common pest in many farms.

  • Farmers often struggle with snout beetles during the harvest season.

  • Farmers often struggle with snout beetles that damage their crops during the growing season.

  • The snout beetle larvae burrow into grains, causing significant losses in storage.

  • To protect the harvest, they applied an insecticide specifically for snout beetles.

Synonyms

weevil
vssnout beetle
15 7.0

A small beetle with a long snout that eats plants or stored grain

is the common name used for that insect in crop contexts

Surface Forms

snout beetle singular
snout beetles plural

Morphology

snout + beetle

The noun phrase is transparently compositional: 'snout' (a projecting nose/jaws) modifies 'beetle' to indicate a beetle with a prominent snout (i.e. a weevil). This descriptive compound follows a common cross-linguistic pattern of noun+noun modification, so a B1 learner who knows both constituent words can infer the meaning.

Etymology

Snout beetle gets its name from the insect's long front 'nose': the word snout is the nose-like part and beetle means the insect. These beetles use that snout to poke into seeds and lay eggs, so they often damage grain and nuts, which is why the name refers to a small pest also called a 'weevil'.