murciélago vampiro
/muɾθjelaɡo bampiɾo/from spelling rules
The English phrase "vampire bat" is translated into Spanish as murciélago vampiro.
murciélago vampiro is a noun used to refer to the bat of the subfamily Desmodontinae.
Meaning: bat of the subfamily Desmodontinae (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
To make the phrase plural, both the noun murciélago and the modifier vampiro must take the plural suffix -s, resulting in murciélagos vampiros.
How do you pronounce it?
/muɾθjelaɡo bampiɾo/
Did you know?
- In Spanish, murciélago is one of the few words that contains every single vowel in the alphabet: a, e, i, o, and u.
- The word murciélago is actually a linguistic fossil meaning 'blind mouse'. It comes from the Vulgar Latin phrase mūrem caecum, combining the words for 'mouse' and 'blind'.
Examples in context
- Me encantaron los murciélagos vampiros en el documental que vi ayer.I loved the vampire bats in the documentary I watched yesterday.
- El murciélago vampiro vive en las selvas.The vampire bat lives in the jungles.
- He visto un murciélago vampiro en el documental.I saw a vampire bat in the documentary.
- Ese murciélago vampiro es muy pequeño.That vampire bat is very small.
Example conversation
Mateo and María are visiting a zoo.
- MateoMira, María, aquel es un murciélago vampiro.Look, María, that is a vampire bat.
- MaríaEs increíble, no sabía que eran tan pequeños.It's incredible, I didn't know they were so small.
- MateoSí, el murciélago vampiro es muy especializado.Yes, the vampire bat is very specialized.
- MaríaEs fascinante observar cómo se mueve.It is fascinating to watch how it moves.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries murciélago, murciélago vampiro, vampiro, CC BY-SA 4.0.
