Animals Found or Heard in Compound Words Quiz

Answer: Bearhug

A big animal you might see when you go camping = bear.
A way of showing affection = hug.
To tightly put your arms around someone = bearhug.

The picture shows a bear. Actually, this isn't a real bear. It's just a costume.

There are many ways that we show people that we love them and are happy to see them. Lots of people greet each other with a hug. If you give someone a "bearhug," you're giving them a really strong or tight hug.

When I was little, Grandpa liked to greet me with a bearhug. He was a lot bigger and stronger than I was.

Real bears, such as grizzly bears and brown bears, are very big and very powerful. That's why a strong, tight hug is called a bearhug.

Answer: Fisheye

An animal that lives in water = fish.
What we see with = eye.
A camera lens with a very wide angle = fisheye.

The photo shows a hat shaped like a fish. Wouldn't that look silly on your head?

A "fisheye" is a special kind of camera lens. A lens helps to focus light so you can see things. Our eyes have lenses too.

Look at a room in your house, or look at the night sky. If you want to see everything, you have to look around. Our eyes aren't wide enough to see everything at once. Most camera lenses aren't wide enough to do that either.

But a fisheye lens is special. It's a very wide lens that lets you see almost everything around you. Have you ever noticed that fish have eyes on the sides of their heads? It gives fish extra-wide vision so they can see well underwater. That's why we call it a fisheye lens!

Answer: Horsefeathers

A graceful animal that people race = horse.
What birds are covered with = feathers.
A silly, old-fashioned word for nonsense = horsefeathers.

The picture shows a rocking-horse. It's made of wood. He's just horsing around.

The dictionary says that "horsefeathers" means "foolish or untrue words." So if someone is telling a lie or talking nonsense, you might reply, "Horsefeathers!"

The word sounds really silly, right? We know horses don't have feathers, so it sounds ridiculous. And that's where the word "horsefeathers" is from. It means "nonsense" because that word SOUNDS LIKE nonsense. It's a silly word for silly talk!

Lots of famous writers have invented words that also mean "nonsense." Have you ever read "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass"? The author, named Lewis Carroll, made up the word "jabberwocky." It means "nonsense." Other fun words for "nonsense" include "piffle," "flapdoodle" and "gobbledygook." They're fun to say!

Answer: Lionheart

The king of the jungle = lion.
A body part that pumps blood = heart.
A brave, courageous person = lionheart.

The photo shows a stone statue of a lion. That's a lamb sitting next to it.

A "lionheart" is someone who is very brave or heroic. It's because the lion, the animal called the "king of the jungle," is fearless -- lions aren't afraid of anything. They are fast and powerful. If you were as strong as a lion, you wouldn't be afraid of anything either!

In history class, you might learn about Richard I, who was King of England hundreds of years ago. He was the leader of the military during a religious war called the Third Crusade. He won many battles and was respected by many people for his leadership and his victories in battle, and there was a poem that called him "Richard the Lionheart."

If you ever watched "The Lion King," you remember Simba, the lion cub who grows up to become king. And you might also remember Aslan, the mighty lion in "The Chronicles of Narnia." So lions have always been known for being powerful and fearless.

Answer: Monkeyshine

A long-tailed animal that loves bananas = monkey.
What the sun does to give off light = shine.
A playful joke or trick = monkeyshine.

The picture shows a rubber monkey. It's the silliest-looking monkey I ever saw. This toy monkey will only drink pink lemonade to go with his bananas.

Lots of words and phrases have the word "monkey" in them. "Monkey business" often means acting silly or tricky. If you "monkey around," you goof off or waste time. "Monkeyshine" is a word that most people probably haven't heard before, but it means pretty much the same thing. If you told someone "I'm tired of your monkeyshines," you would be telling them to stop doing silly behavior, like pranks or tricks.

Lots of words and phrases have "monkey" in them. Why? If you've seen monkeys at the zoo, they're cute, playful, and very curious. When they find something that's interesting to them, they will play with it like a toy. Monkeys love to have fun, but sometimes they get into naughty behavior, like breaking something or causing a mess.

Not everybody agrees about the "shine" part of "monkeyshine." Some dictionaries say that "shine" is an old-fashioned word that used to mean foolish behavior.

Answer: Roostertail

A noisy bird that might wake you up at sunrise = rooster.
What a happy dog wags = tail.
A big spray of water caused by a vehicle = roostertail.

The picture shows a pin shaped like a rooster. Many roosters have bright, beautiful tails.

Almost everyone has seen a "roostertail" before. What happens when you're riding in a car, and it drives through a big puddle? A whole bunch of water sprays up along the sides of the car. Well, that's what a "roostertail" is -- that big spray of water.

If you've seen a real rooster before, you probably noticed its interesting tail. The tail has lots of big, colorful feathers, and it has a curved shape. That shape called an "arch" -- similar to a rainbow's arc, but a little bit flatter. So if you watch a car drive through a puddle, you can see that the splash of water is shaped like a curve -- just like the curved shape of a rooster's tail. And that's where the name is from!

Of course, real roosters aren't made of water. And they're REALLY noisy. If you've heard a rooster go "cock-a-doodle-doo," you know what I mean. They like to do that at sunrise, and they also make their loud noise to warn the other chickens if danger is nearby. So if you live on a farm, you don't need to buy an alarm clock -- the rooster will wake you up!

Answer: Tigertail

A huge, wild cat in Asia = tiger.
What the back of an airplane is called = tail.
An orange-flavored ice cream with black licorice = tigertail.

The picture shows a tiger cub. Those are my hands. A few years ago, I got to bottle-feed a baby tiger! Isn't he cute?

You might not have heard of "tigertail" ice cream, if you've never been to Canada. This is a very tasty flavor, but Canada is almost the only country where it's still made.

"Tigertail" is called that because it's a clever way to describe the two flavors. You know what a real tiger looks like -- it's a big, beautiful wild cat that has orange fur with black stripes. And someone thought of making an ice-cream flavor that looked like a tiger's black-and-orange fur.

So to make "tigertail," ice cream and orange juice are stirred together. That makes orange ice cream. Then some black licorice is mixed in. What you get is an interesting, tasty, orange-colored ice cream with black swirls. So it's called "tigertail" because it reminds people of a tiger's colors!

There are lots of tigers in cartoons and movies and books. One brand of cereal has a mascot named Tony the Tiger. And if you've seen the movie "The Jungle Book," you might remember Shere Khan, the evil tiger. And real tigers are big, powerful, beautiful animals -- but they're also an endangered species, so there aren't as many tigers as there used to be.

Answer: Catsuit

An animal that chases birds = cat.
A set of matching clothes = suit.
A tight piece of clothing that covers the body and legs and sometimes the arms = catsuit.

The picture shows a little cat sculpture. I made this a long time ago. It's mostly made from old metal spoons.

Have you seen any of the "Batman" shows or movies? A perfect example of a "catsuit" is the black-colored outfit worn by Catwoman, one of Batman's enemies. A catsuit is usually made of a material that lets the person move around easily and quickly, like how a gymnast does.

"Catsuit" is a pretty simple word -- "suit" means "outfit," and "cat" refers to real cats and how they move. Watch a cat run around and play and chase things. People love to watch how cats always move so gracefully and quickly. And that's why we have the word "catsuit" -- because it's special clothes a person would wear to help them move around easily and gracefully, like a cat does.

By the way, "tuxedo cat" is actually a real phrase. It refers to any cat with black-and-white fur, because the pattern of the colors reminds people of a tuxedo, which is a fancy suit for men. Try watching an old "Looney Tunes" cartoon with Sylvester and Tweety -- Sylvester the cat is a tuxedo cat.

Isn't that a funny idea -- a cat wearing fancy clothes? Actually, it's kind of confusing. We use word "tuxedo," which is PEOPLE'S clothes, to describe cats that look like they're dressed like people. Then we have the word "catsuit," which means "clothes people wear to look like a cat"!

Source: Merriam-Webster.com for the "catsuit" definition used in the clue

Answer: Mousepad

An animal that's chased by cats = mouse.
A protective covering to prevent sports injuries = pad.
A small, soft surface for the computer device that lets you click and scroll = mousepad.

The picture shows a little mouse sculpture. I made it a long time ago from old metal spoons. This metal mouse is right next to the metal cat sculpture I showed in the previous question.

Everyone knows what a mouse is -- it's an animal. The device that we call a "computer mouse" is named because it's shaped like a real mouse -- and the cord looks like a mouse's tail.

Some computer mice sit on what kind of looks like a tiny doormat. A soft surface can be called a pad. (A "pad" is also what you might wear to protect your knees and shoulders when you play sports.) So a "mousepad" is a special kind of surface that goes underneath your computer mouse.

Try rubbing your hand across a mousepad. It feels kind of soft and kind of smooth, doesn't it? It's designed to help make the mouse easier to move. A lot of computer desks are made of something hard, like wood or plastic, and people said that their desks were not smooth enough to easily move the mouse around on it. So the mousepad helps give the mouse a softer, smoother surface.

Cats love to chase birds AND mice. Do you think a computer mouse dreams about being chased by a "computer cat"?

Answer: Sundog

What gives us warmth during the day = sun.
An animal that chases cats = dog.
A bright spot in the sky caused by tiny ice crystals = sundog.

The picture shows a dog sitting at a coffee table. Fred was my pet dog for a long time. Doesn't he have a funny expression?

A "sundog" is really interesting, but it's also a little bit complicated. If you take a class about science and weather, the teacher might explain "sundogs." Some websites have pictures of what a "sundog" looks like.

But what actually IS a "sundog"? Here's one way to think of it. Sometimes if you look up into the sky, you might see a couple of spots of light. At sunrise or sunset, you can see where the sun is in the sky, and sometimes the sun looks like it has a colorful ring of light around it. And there are a couple of bright spots on the left and right sides of that ring.

You know what glass or crystal does to sunlight -- it reflects it. And high up in the sky, there are some clouds that are very cold. They are made of little pieces of ice, called ice crystals. So when you see a bright spot of light near a colorful "ring" around the sun, those bright spots are where the ice crystals are reflecting the sunlight in the sky.

Now what about "sundog"? Well, people have different ideas about why bright spots in the sky would be called "dogs." Here's one example. Long ago, people believed in a Greek god named Zeus, who took his two pet dogs for walks across the sky. So they thought that the bright sun was Zeus, and the other two glowing spots nearby were the two dogs walking next to him. And that's one of the ideas!

By the way, you might have noticed a pattern in these last few questions. I mentioned that cats like to chase birds, then I said that cats also chase mice, and then I said that dogs chase cats. It seems like everyone is chasing or being chased!