different between butterfly vs silkmoth

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Superseded non-native Middle English papilion (“butterfly”) borrowed from Old French papillon (“butterfly”).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

Etymology

silk +? moth

Noun

silkmoth (plural silkmoths)

1. Any moth whose caterpillar stage is a silkworm, especially Bombyx mori, the domestic silkmoth, but also others in the familes Bombycidae and Saturniidae (as well as the Siberian silkmoth in the Lasiocampidae).

Derived terms

• ailanthus silkmoth (Samia cynthia)
• Assam silkmoth (Antherea assamiensis, syn. Antheraeopsis assamensis)
• calleta silkmoth (Eupackardia calleta)
• ceanothus silkmoth (Hyalophora euryalus)
• cecrops eyed silkmoth (Automeris cecrops)
• Chinese oak silkmoth (Antherea pernyi)
• Columbia silkmoth (Hyalophora columbia)
• cricula silkmoth (Cricula trifenestrate)
• domestic silkmoth (Bombyx mori)
• eri silkmoth (Samia cynthia ricini)
• Forbes' silkmoth (Rothschildia forbesi)
• ghostly silkmoth (Ceranchia)
• Glover's silkmoth (Hyalophora gloveri)
• greasewood silkmoth (Agapema anona)
• iris eyed silkmoth (Automeris iris)
• Japanese oak silkmoth (Antherea yamamai)
• Japanese silkmoth (Antherea yamamai)
• Jonasi silkmoth (Caligula jonasi)
• larch silkmoth (Hyalophora columbia)
• Louisiana silkmoth (Automeris louisiana)
• mulberry silkmoth (Bombyx mori)
• Patagonia eyed silkmoth (Automeris patagoniensis)
• promethea silkmoth (Callosamia promethea)
• Siberian silkmoth (Dendrolimus sibiricus)
• spicebush silkmoth (Callosamia promethea)
• Sri Lankan cricula silkmoth (Cricula ceylonica)
• sweetbay silkmoth (Callosamia securifera)
• tuliptree silkmoth (Callosamia angulifera)
• wild silkmoth (Bombyx mandarina)
• zephyr eyed silkmoth (Automeris zephyria)

References

• silkmoth on Wikipedia.Wikipedia