melena de león
/melena de leon/from spelling rules
The English phrase "lion mane" is translated into Spanish as melena de león.
This phrase refers to the thick growth of hair around the neck and head of a male lion.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of melena (mane), de (of) and león (lion).
How does it change in a sentence?
To talk about multiple manes, you pluralize the noun melena to melenas while keeping león in its singular form to indicate the species, resulting in melenas de león.
Did you know?
- The word melena is a linguistic double agent, sharing an ancestor with the Greek word for 'black' while also stemming from an Arabic word meaning 'softening'.
- In Spanish, you can use melena to describe a person's hair if it is particularly long, thick, or unruly. It is not a term reserved strictly for animals.
- The word león has an archaic doublet in Spanish, leu, which is almost never used in modern speech.
Examples in context
- El rey de la selva se distingue por su imponente melena de león.The king of the jungle is distinguished by his imposing lion mane.
- La melena de león es muy espesa.The lion mane is very thick.
- Podemos ver la melena de león en el video.We can see the lion mane in the video.
Example conversation
Alejandro and María are looking at a picture of a lion.
- AlejandroMira qué impresionante es esa melena de león.Look how impressive that lion mane is.
- MaríaSí, es muy espesa y oscura.Yes, it is very thick and dark.
- Alejandro¿Sabes por qué la tienen?Do you know why they have it?
- MaríaPara intimidar a otros machos.To intimidate other males.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries de, león, melena, CC BY-SA 4.0.
