portuguese man-of-war
/ˈpoɹ.tʃəˌɡiz ˌmæn.ə(v)ˈwoɹ/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.01 in modern English
29
Scrabble Score
18
Letters
3
Syllables
13
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Physalia physalis, a marine cnidarian consisting of a floating colony of hydrozoans attached to a float, superficially resembling a jellyfish.
noun
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see Portuguese, man-of-war.
Example Sentences
- "Once the great streamers of a Portuguese man-of-war floated slowly by. They almost reached his head from the surface, fifteen feet away, and he remembered the whiplash of a sting from the contact of one of their tendrils that had burned for three of his days at Manatee Bay. If they caught a man across the heart they could kill him."
- "However, two beaches in Tarragona in southern Catalonia were closed in July after Portuguese man o’war (Physalia physalis) were spotted in the water."
Etymology
From Portuguese (adjective) + man-of-war, from the resemblance of the organism’s float to a former Portuguese warship at full sail.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpoɹ.tʃəˌɡiz ˌmæn.ə(v)ˈwoɹ/
- British English: /ˈpɔː.tʃʊˌɡiːz ˌmæn.ə(v)ˈwɔː/