guinea

«guinea» in Mova's school dictionary: most often heard in «guinea pig», a small furry pet… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a guinea, guineas); part of names (guinea pig, Guinea, New Guinea)

meaning for a pupil

1) Guinea is most often heard in «guinea pig», a small furry pet rodent with no tail. tree →

2) A guinea pig can also mean a person used to test something new: Be my guinea pig for this recipe. tree →

3) A guinea was an old British gold coin worth a little more than a pound. tree →

4) Guinea (capital G) is a country in West Africa; Papua New Guinea and Equatorial Guinea are other countries. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science and pet-care lessons, guinea pigs are rodents, not pigs, and not from Guinea; they come from South America, need hay, fresh vegetables, vitamin C and company of other guinea pigs. In everyday speech, being a «guinea pig» means trying something out first. In geography: Guinea is in Africa, New Guinea is a big island north of Australia. Phrases: guinea pig, guinea fowl.

examples

• Our class has two guinea pigs. tree →
• A guinea pig is a rodent, not a pig. tree →
• Guinea pigs love fresh hay and carrots. tree →
• I was the guinea pig for Mum's new soup. tree →
• Guinea is a country in West Africa. tree →
• A guinea was an old British coin. tree →
• Papua New Guinea is north of Australia. tree →
• Guinea pigs squeak when they are excited. tree →
• ‘There is a guinea for you,’ said he; ‘go and bring her here.’ tree →

note

Pronounced GIN-ee (like «skinny» without the sk). Lower case in guinea pig; capital G for countries. A guinea pig is neither a pig nor from Guinea.

In the corpora

• Black and brown bear cubs are born in the den in midwinter and are only about the size of a guinea pig.
• Guinea pigs cannot make their own vitamin C, so they need fresh vegetables such as pepper or leafy greens every day.
• Guinea pigs are herd animals, so at least two should live together.
• Example: a girl in Auckland wants to hold her friend's guinea pig.
• The guinea pig stays calm.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «guinea» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.