hyena

«hyena» in Mova's school dictionary: a dog-like wild animal from Africa and parts of Asia with… — 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 hyena, hyenas)

meaning for a pupil

1) A hyena is a dog-like wild animal from Africa and parts of Asia with strong jaws, a sloping back and, in the spotted kind, a call that sounds like laughing. tree →

2) Hyenas hunt in groups and also eat what other animals leave behind. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons hyenas come up in food chains and as scavengers and predators: spotted hyenas actually hunt most of their own food, and their jaws can crush bones. In stories and cartoons hyenas are often shown as sneaky villains, but that is not fair to real hyenas. Pupils learn that hyenas are more closely related to cats and mongooses than to dogs.

examples

• The hyena's laugh echoed across the savanna at night. tree →
• Spotted hyenas live in big groups called clans. tree →
• Hyenas have jaws strong enough to crack bones. tree →
• Lions and hyenas often fight over food. tree →
• Hyenas hunt zebras and wildebeest as well as scavenging. tree →
• In the cartoon, the hyenas were the villain's helpers. tree →
• Female spotted hyenas are bigger than the males and lead the group. tree →

note

Plural «hyenas». Say «hy-EE-nuh». Myths: hyenas are not just scavengers, and they are not dogs — they are a family of their own, closer to cats. Their «laugh» is a call, not happiness.

In the corpora

• Leopards drag their kills, sometimes as heavy as themselves, up into trees where lions and hyenas cannot steal them.
• Hyenas look like dogs but are more closely related to cats and mongooses; the aardwolf is a small hyena that eats mostly termites.
• Baby elephants stay close to mothers and aunts, who circle them when lions or hyenas come; babies suck their trunks for comfort.
• Hunters lived there too: cave lions, cave hyenas that dragged bones to their dens, and people.
• Cave hyenas cracked bones with powerful jaws and dragged them to their dens, which scientists find by gnawed bones and fossil droppings.

Trees and pragmatics

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