wheat-earとは 意味・読み方・使い方

別の表記

• white-ear

発音

• IPA: /ˈʍiːtɪəɹ/, /ˈwiːtɪəɹ/

語源 1

Uncertain. Probably a back-formation from 中期英語 whit ers (“white arse”), after the prominent white rump of many species. Compare dialect forms white rump, white-tail. Possibly a compound of wheat +‎ ear or white +‎ ear. Attested since the seventeenth century as wheat-ears or wheatgear.

名詞

wheatear (plural wheatears)

1. Any of various passerine birds of the genus Oenanthe that feed on insects,
   • 1669, Edward Chamberlayne, Angliae Notitia; or, The Present State of England, London: T.N. for John Martyn, →OCLC, page 6:

     What abundance of Hens, Ducks, Geese, Turkeys, Pigeons, and Larks? [...] Maychit, Stint, Sea-Plover, Pewits, Redshanks, Rayles, and Wheat-ears, Herrons, Cranes, Bitterns, Bustards, Puffins, God-wits,

   • 1796, Tobias Smollett, The miscellaneous works of Tobias Smollett, M.D. With memoirs of his life and writings, Edinburgh: J. Mundell, →OCLC, page 21:

     great plenty of the birds so much admired at Tunbridge under the name of wheat-ears. By-the-bye, this is a pleasant corruption of white-a—se, the translation of the French name cul blanc, taken from their color; for they are actually white towards the tail.

   1. especially, the northern wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)

同意語

• clodhopper, fallow-chat, fallow-smiter

派生語

参照

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Wheatear n.2”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC.
• “wheatear”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

語源 2

From 中期英語 whete-ere, equivalent to wheat +‎ ear.

名詞

wheatear (plural wheatears)

1. An ear of wheat.
2. A decorative pattern resembling an ear of wheat.
3. An anomalous form of carnation, producing small green ears instead of flowers.

アナグラム

• Haweater, aweather, taraweeh