vole
vole
UK[vəʊl]US[voʊl]
n
A small, mouse-like rodent with a stout body, a blunt nose, and a short tail, often found in fields and meadows.
Etymology
The word 'vole' is a 19th-century shortening of the earlier term 'volemouse', which itself was an anglicization of the Norwegian word 'vollmus', meaning 'field mouse'. The Norwegian term is a compound of 'voll' (field, meadow) and 'mus' (mouse). This etymological journey from a descriptive compound in a Scandinavian language to a clipped, standalone noun in English illustrates how common names for animals are often derived from straightforward descriptions of their habitat and appearance.
Analysis
The word 'vole' is a simplex word. It is a shortening of a longer compound name.
Examples
The farmer set traps to control the vole population in his pasture.
A barn owl's diet primarily consists of small mammals like voles and shrews.
The sudden disappearance of the voles had a noticeable impact on the local fox population.