spinney
小さな茂み・雑木林
解説 Definition
小さな樹木や低木の茂った地域。灌木地帯。
A spinney is a small area of trees and bushes, smaller than a forest or wood. It is often found in the countryside and may look like a little patch of woodland. The word is mainly British and is not very common in everyday conversation.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
spinney は wood や forest ほど大きくなく、copse に近い「農地や道ばたの脇にぽつっとある小さな雑木林」を思い浮かべると残りやすい語です。景色描写で a little spinney, a dense spinney, beyond the spinney のように出やすく、広い森ではなく“まとまりは小さいが木や低木がこんもりある場所”という感覚が核。つづりが spin に見えても「回る」とは結びつけない、とセットで覚えると混同を防げます。
Remember it as smaller than a `wood` or `forest`. A `spinney` is more like a small patch of trees or bushes beside a road or field, so it often appears in scene-description phrases like `beyond the spinney`. Also note the spelling trap: although it looks a bit like `spin`, it has nothing to do with turning around.
例文
The spinney provided shelter for birds and wildlife.
茂みは鳥や野生動物に避難所を提供した。
Walking through the spinney revealed hidden flowers.
茂みを歩くと隠された花が明らかになった。
The spinney was filled with various plant species.
茂みはさまざまな植物種で満たされていた。
spinney の類義語・関連語
spinney の語源・成り立ち Etymology
spinney は古フランス語 espinei「いばらの茂み」に由来し、その奥にはラテン語 spina「とげ」があります。語尾の -ey は場所のまとまりを感じさせ、小さな林がもとは「とげの多い茂み」だったと知ると、景色ごと意味が浮かびます。関連語は spine、spinous。
Spinney comes from Old French espinei, meaning a thorny place or bushy growth. Behind that is Latin spina, meaning "thorn," which is also the source of spine and spinous. The word later came to mean a small wood or thicket, keeping the older image of dense, prickly growth.
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