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Revision as of 13:53, 21 February 2020

English

Commons
Commons
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WOTD – 23 January 2006
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
A butterfly.
A brimstone butterfly. The word butterfly may have its origins in the name of yellow (or cream-coloured) butterflies such as this.

Etymology

From Middle English buterflie, butturflye, boterflye, from Old English butorflēoge, buttorflēoge, buterflēoge (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 bēatan (“to beat”).[1]

Superseded non-native Middle English papilion (“butterfly”) borrowed from Old French papillon (“butterfly”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbʌtə(ɹ)flaɪ/
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): [ˈbʌɾɚflaɪ]
    • Audio (CA):(file)
    • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): [ˈbʌtəflaɪ]
    • Audio (RP):(file)
  • Audio (AU):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪ

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.]
    • a. 1931 (date written), D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “[Autobiographical Fragment]”, in Edward D[avid] McDonald, editor, Phoenix: The Posthumous Papers of D. H. Lawrence, London: William Heinemann, published 1936, →OCLC, page 836:
      It is true. I am like a butterfly, and I shall only live a little while.
  3. A use of surgical tape, cut into thin strips and placed across an open wound to hold it closed.
    butterfly tape
  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.]
    • 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:
      The day came indeed when her breathless auditors learnt from her in bewilderment that what ailed him was that he was, alas, simply not serious. Maisie wept on Mrs. Wix's bosom after hearing that Sir Claude was a butterfly […].

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

butterfly (third-person singular simple present butterfl, present participle ies, 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.
    • 2006, Paul Garber, Newton's Force, page 256:
      After everyone had obeyed his commands, the lieutenant motioned for two medics that now appeared to enter the room and attend to Dr. Carter. They bandaged him up, butterflying some of the deeper gashes and gave him a couple of shots.

See also

References

  1. ^ Donald A. Ringe, A Linguistic History of English: From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (Oxford: Oxford, 2003), 232.

Anagrams

Danish

Noun

butterfly c (singular definite butterflyen, plural indefinite butterfly)

  1. bowtie

Inflection

Declension of butterfly
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative butterfly butterflyen butterfly butterflyene
genitive butterflys butterflyens butterflys butterflyenes
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