toucan

«toucan» in Mova's school dictionary: a tropical bird from Central and South America with black… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a toucan, toucans)

meaning for a pupil

1) A toucan is a tropical bird from Central and South America with black feathers and a huge, brightly coloured beak. tree →

2) (UK) A toucan crossing is a road crossing with lights that both pedestrians and cyclists can use («two can» cross). tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons about rainforests and adaptations, the toucan's big beak is light because it is hollow inside; it helps the bird reach fruit on thin branches and lose heat to keep cool. Toucans spread seeds through the forest. In UK road safety lessons, a toucan crossing lets bikes and people cross together. Phrases: toco toucan, keel-billed toucan, toucan crossing.

examples

• The toucan's beak is bright orange and very big. tree →
• A toucan uses its beak to pick fruit. tree →
• Toucans live in the rainforests of South America. tree →
• Although it looks heavy, a toucan's beak is light and hollow. tree →
• The toucan threw a berry up and caught it in its beak. tree →
• Toucans sleep with their beaks tucked under their wings. tree →
• We crossed the road on our bikes at the toucan crossing. tree →
• I painted a toucan with a rainbow beak. tree →

note

Countable: a toucan, toucans. Pronounced «TOO-kan». Do not confuse with the hornbill of Africa and Asia, which looks similar but is not related. The UK «toucan crossing» is a pun on «two can» (people and bikes), not about birds.

In the corpora

• Parrots and toucans have two toes pointing forward and two pointing back, while most perching birds have three forward and one back.

Trees and pragmatics

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