different between butterfly vs chicken

English

Etymology

From Middle English buterflie, butturflye, boterflye, from Old English butorfl?oge, buttorfl?oge, buterfl?oge (from butere (“butter”)), equivalent to butter +? fly. Cognate with Dutch botervlieg, German Butterfliege (“butterfly”). The name may have originally been applied to butterflies of a yellowish color, and/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-shitter”)). Compare also German Schmetterling from Schmetten (“cream”), German Low German Bottervögel (“butterfly”, literally “butter-fowl”). More at butter, fly.

An alternate theory suggests that the first element may have originally been butor- (“beater”), a mutation of b?atan (“to beat”).

Superseded non-native Middle English papilion (“butterfly”) borrowed from Old French papillon (“butterfly”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?t?(?)fla?/
  • (US, Canada) IPA^(key): [?b???fla?]
  • (UK) IPA^(key): [?b?t?fla?]
• Rhymes: -a?

Noun

butterfly (plural butterflies)

2. A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring. [from 11th c.]
3. A use of surgical tape, cut into thin strips and placed across an open wound to hold it closed.

5. (swimming) The butterfly stroke. [from 20th c.]
6. (in the plural) A sensation of excited anxiety felt in the stomach.

   I get terrible butterflies before an exam.

7. (now rare) Someone seen as being unserious and (originally) dressed gaudily; someone flighty and unreliable. [from 17th c.]
   • 1859, George Meredith, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, Chapter 15:

     He was affable; therefore he was frivolous. The women liked him; therefore he was a butterfly.

Synonyms

• lep

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

butterfly (third-person singular simple present butterflies, present participle butterflying, simple past and past participle butterflied)

1. (transitive) To cut (food) almost entirely in half and spread the halves apart, in a shape suggesting the wings of a butterfly.

   butterflied shrimp

   Butterfly the chicken before you grill it.

2. (transitive) To cut strips of surgical tape or plasters into thin strips, and place across (a gaping wound) to close it.

See also

• caterpillar
• flutterby
• moth
• Appendix: Animals
• Appendix:English collective nouns

References

Anagrams

• flutterby

Danish

Noun

butterfly c (singular definite butterflyen, plural indefinite butterfly)

1. bowtie

Inflection

English

Wikispecies

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: ch?k'?n, IPA^(key): /?t???k?n/
• Rhymes: -?k?n, -?k?n
• Hyphenation: chick?en

Etymology 1

From Middle English chiken (also as chike > English chick), from Old English ?icen, ?ycen (“chicken”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Proto-West Germanic *kiuk?n (“chicken”), or alternatively from Proto-West Germanic *kukk?n, equivalent to cock +? -en. Compare North Frisian schückling (“chicken”), Saterland Frisian Sjuuken (“chicken”), Dutch kuiken (“chick, chicken”), German Low German Küken (“chick”), whence German Küken (“chick”), (elevated, obsolete) German Küchlein (“chick”) and Old Norse kjúklingr (“chicken”).

Noun

chicken (countable and uncountable, plural chickens)

1. (countable) A domestic fowl, Gallus gallus, especially when young.
   • 1997, Beverley Randell, Clive Harper, Chickens, Nelson Thornes (?ISBN), page 8:

     Some chickens lay eggs almost every day. […] Chickens are kept for their meat, too.

2. (uncountable) The meat from this bird eaten as food.
   • 1995, Jean Paré, Chicken, Etc., Company's Coming Publishing Limited (?ISBN), page 7:

     Before cooking chicken, or other poultry, rinse with cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.

3. (archaic) The young of any bird; a chick.
4. (countable, slang) A coward.
   • 2008, Lanakila Michael Achong, Haole Boy: The Adoption of Diversity, iUniverse (?ISBN), page 44:

     Usually, I had no problem approaching girls, but this one was different. I went home and berated myself for being such a chicken.

   • (More commonly used as an adjective with this sense; see below.)
5. (countable, slang) A young or inexperienced person.
   • 1886, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Lauriston Garden Mystery”, in A Study in Scarlet (Beeton's Christmas Annual; 28th season), London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., November 1887, OCLC 15800088; republished as A Study in Scarlet. A Detective Story, new edition, London: Ward, Lock, Bowden, and Co., 1892, OCLC 23246292, page 43:

     "This case will make a stir, sir," he remarked. "It beats anything I have seen, and I am no chicken."

6. (countable, Polari) A young, attractive, slim man, usually having little body hair; compare chickenhawk.
7. The game of dare.
   1. A confrontational game in which the participants move toward each other at high speed (usually in automobiles); the player who turns first to avoid colliding into the other is the chicken (that is, the loser).

8. A simple dance in which the movements of a chicken are imitated.

Synonyms

• (bird): biddy, chook (Australia, NZ)
• (coward): see Thesaurus:coward
• (young inexperienced person): spring chicken
• (young, attractive, slim man): twink

Hyponyms

• (bird): cock, cockerel, rooster (male), hen (female), chick (young), broiler (suitable as food)

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? German: Chicken
• ? Irish: sicín
• ? Japanese: ??? (chikin)
• ? Korean: ?? (chikin)

Translations

See also

• egg
• poultry
• ????

Adjective

chicken (comparative more chicken, superlative most chicken)

1. (informal) Cowardly.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:cowardly, Thesaurus:afraid

Derived terms

• chicken out

Etymology 2

Shortening of chicken out.

Verb

chicken (third-person singular simple present chickens, present participle chickening, simple past and past participle chickened)

1. (intransitive) To avoid a situation one is afraid of.

Etymology 3

From chick +? -en (plural ending).

Noun

chicken

1. (Britain dialectal or obsolete) plural of chick

Further reading

• chicken on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• chicken (food) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• chicken (game) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• chicken (gay slang) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• chicken (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• check in, check-in, checkin', in check

Scots

Etymology

From English chicken.

Noun

chicken (plural chickens)

1. chicken