trumpeter swan
- noun
- /ˈtrʌmpɪtər swɑn/
- US
- On a pond near camp were trumpeter swans, the world's largest wild swans.
And I came around the bend and saw a group of Swans, trumpeter Swans, which are either either endangered or threatened.
- And I came around the bend and saw a group of Swans, trumpeter Swans, which are either either endangered or threatened.
Examples
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Today, some six decades after Congress took emergency measures to save the trumpeter swan from extinction, the species maintains only a tenuous foothold in the West.
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There on the water, an elegant trumpeter swan swam by itself in the morning's first rays of sun.
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One worked on a hatch box for endangered trumpeter swans, another on bluebird houses.
Academic text (1998) -
And I came around the bend and saw a group of Swans, trumpeter Swans, which are either either endangered or threatened.
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And I came around the bend and saw a group of Swans, trumpeter Swans, which are either either endangered or threatened.
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There on the water, an elegant trumpeter swan swam by itself in the morning's first rays of sun.
Blog text (13) -
These lead weights are responsible for 52 percent of all loon deaths, 32 percent of all trumpeter swan deaths, and 25 percent of all bald eagle deaths.
Academic text (2010)
Synonyms
A large white water bird with a long neck that moves gracefully
A large white swan with a loud trumpet-like call
A large white wild swan with a loud trumpet call from western North America
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is fully compositional: 'trumpeter' describes the characteristic (trumpet-like, resonant call) and 'swan' names the bird, so the overall meaning 'a swan with a trumpet-like call' is directly derivable from the parts. This modifier+noun pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily understand the MWE.
Etymology
Trumpeter swan gets its name from the bird's loud, trumpet-like call. Imagine a large white swan making a strong 'trumpet' sound, so people called it a trumpeter and the name stuck.