butterfly

CEFRA1

/ˈbʌ.tə(ɹ).flaɪ/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    An insect with large colorful wings and a thin body.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A use of surgical tape, cut into thin strips and placed across an open wound to hold it closed.

Examples

  • A bat flying in the sky looks like a butterfly.

  • I get terrible butterflies before an exam.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • [ˈbʌ.ɾə.flɑɪ]
  • [ˈbʌ.ɾɚ.flaɪ]

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The butterfly stroke.

  2. A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring.

  3. Any of several plane curves that look like a butterfly; see Butterfly curve (transcendental) and Butterfly curve (algebraic).

More examples

In context

  • One potential butterfly could be JFK having another son the year after the POD instead of a daughter.

  • Oh, there's a butterfly!

  • butterfly tape; butterfly bandage; butterfly strips

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The child watched a beautiful orange and black blank land on the flower.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English buterflie, butturflye, boterflye, from Old English buterflēoge, equivalent to butter + fly. Cognate with Dutch botervlieg, German Butterfliege (“butterfly”). The name may have originally been applied to butterflies of a yellowish color, or reflected a belief that butterflies ate milk and butter (compare German Molkendieb (“butterfly”, literally “whey-thief”) and Low German Botterlicker (“butterfly”, literally “butter-licker”)), or that they excreted a butter-like substance (compare Dutch boterschijte (“butterfly”, literally “butter-excretor”)). Compare also German Schmetterling from Schmetten (“cream”), German Low German Bottervögel (“butterfly”, literally “butter-fowl”)...