caterpillar

English

A caterpillar—the larva of a butterfly or moth.

Alternative forms

• caterpiller (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English catirpel, catirpeller, probably from Old Northern French catepeluse (Modern French chatte + pileuse (“hairy cat”)), from Late Latin catta + pilōsa.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkætəˌpɪlə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkætɚˌpɪlɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

caterpillar (plural caterpillars)

1. The larva of a butterfly or moth; leafworm

   The bird just ate that green caterpillar.

2. A vehicle with a caterpillar track; a crawler
3. (mathematics) A set of subtrees of a tree

Derived terms

Derived terms

• caterpillar catcher
• Caterpillar Club
• caterpillar eater

• caterpillar hunter
• caterpillar track
• pseudocaterpillar
• tent caterpillar

Translations

larva of a butterfly

• Adyghe: пкӏэшъэхъу (pč̣̍ăŝăχ°)
• Albanian: zek, vemje (sq) f
• Arabic: يَرَقَة‎ f (yaraqa), دُودَة الْفَرَاشَة‎ f (dūdat al-farāša)

  Hijazi Arabic: يَرَقَة‎ f (yaraga)

• Armenian: թրթուր (hy) (tʿrtʿur)
• Assamese: পলু (polu), বিছা (bisa)
• Aymara: laqatu
• Azerbaijani: tırtıl (az)
• Banjarese: hulat
• Basque: har, beldar
• Belarusian: ву́сень m (vúsjenʹ)
• Bengali: শুঁয়াপোকা (śũẏapoka)
• Brunei Malay: ulat bulu, giuk bulu
• Bulgarian: гъсе́ница (bg) f (gǎsénica)
• Burmese: ပိုးတောင့်တဲ (my) (pui:taung.tai:)
• Catalan: eruga (ca) f
• Cebuano: til-as
• Cherokee: ᏍᎪᏯ ᎠᏁᏍᎩᎸᎥᏍᎩ (sgoya anesgilvvsgi)
• Chichewa: mbozi
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 毛毛蟲, 毛毛虫 (mou⁴ mou⁴ cung⁴), 毛蟲, 毛虫 (mou⁴ cung⁴)

  Mandarin: 毛毛蟲 (zh), 毛毛虫 (zh) (máomáochóng), 毛蟲 (zh), 毛虫 (zh) (máochóng)

• Chuukese: muun
• Chuvash: лӗпӗш хурчӗ (lĕp̬ĕš hurč̬ĕ)
• Classical Syriac: ܡܫܘܛܐ‎ m (māšōṭā)
• Cornish: pryv del m, kath vlewek f (hairy)
• Czech: housenka (cs) f
• Danish: larve c, kålorm c
• Dutch: rups (nl) f
• Esperanto: raŭpo (eo)
• Estonian: tõuk (et), röövik
• Faroese: ormvera f
• Finnish: perhostoukka (fi)
• French: chenille (fr) f
• Galician: eiruga (gl) f, burgo m
• Georgian: მუხლუხი (muxluxi)
• German: Raupe (de) f
• Greek: κάμπια (el) f (kámpia)

  Ancient: κάμπη f (kámpē)

• Gujarati: ઇયળ (iyaḷ)
• Haitian Creole: chini
• Hebrew: זַחַל‎ (he) m (zakhal)
• Hindi: इल्ली (hi) f (illī), पोका (hi) m (pokā)
• Hungarian: hernyó (hu)
• Icelandic: lirfa (is)
• Ido: raupo (io)
• Indonesian: ulat bulu, ulat (id)
• Irish: bolb m
• Italian: bruco (it) m
• Japanese: 毛虫 (けむし, kemushi) (hairy one), 芋虫 (いもむし, imomushi) (hairless one)
• Jarai: hlăt
• Javanese: uler (jv)
• Kannada: ಕಂಬಳಿಹುಳ (kn) (kambaḷihuḷa)
• Kazakh: жұлдызқұрт (juldızqurt), қырықбуын (qırıqbwın)
• Khmer: ក្រា (km) (kraa), ដង្កូវ (km) (dɑngkəw)
• Kikuyu: kĩgunyũ 7, kĩgunyarĩrĩ 7 (hairy one)
• Korean: 모충(毛蟲) (mochung), 애벌레 (ko) (aebeolle)
• Kyrgyz: көпөлөк курту (köpölöq qurtu)
• Lak: янначчуччу (aˤnnač:uč:u)
• Lao: ໂຕດ້ວງ (tō dūang), ຕົວບົ້ງ (tūa bong), ບຸ້ງ (bung), ດ້ວງ (dūang)
• Latin: ērūca f, ūrīca f, campē f, (Late) dolba f
• Latvian: kāpurs m
• Limburgish: roeps (li) m
• Lingala: mombínzó
• Lithuanian: vikšras m

• Low German: Ruup (nds) f

  Dutch Low Saxon: Riepse f

• Luxembourgish: Raup m
• Macedonian: гасеница f (gasenica)
• Malagasy: fanday (mg)
• Malay: beluncas
• Malayalam: കമ്പിളിപ്പുഴു (ml) (kampiḷippuḻu)
• Maltese: xagħat m
• Manchu: ᠯᡠᡴᡠ (luku)
• Manx: braddag m
• Maori: torongū, tōtorongū, whē, mokamoka, torongū
• Marathi: अळी (aḷī)
• Mi'kmaq: engejit anim
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: жаран хөлт (jaran khölt)

• Navajo: wódítłʼooí, chʼosh ditłʼooí, wóshiiyishí (if not hairy)
• Norman: (Jersey) carpéleuse f, (Guernsey) catte f, (Continental Normandy) carpélouose f, (Sark) katpwölör f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: larve (no) m

• Occitan: eruga (oc) f
• Old English: trēowwyrm m
• Persian: کرم صدپا‎ (kerm-e sadpâ)
• Punjabi: ਸੁੰਡ (pa) m (suṇḍ), ਸੁੰਡੀ (pa) f (suṇḍī)
• Picard: carplute m
• Plautdietsch: Krupa m
• Polish: gąsienica (pl) f
• Portuguese: lagarta (pt) f
• Quechua: sika, kuru
• Romanian: omidă (ro) f
• Russian: гу́сеница (ru) f (gúsenica)
• S'gaw Karen: သံ (thee)
• Sardinian: ruga f
• Scots: oobit
• Scottish Gaelic: burras (gd) m, bratag (gd) f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гу̏сеница f, (Ijekavian) гу̏сјеница f

  Roman: gȕsenica (sh) f, (Ekavian) gȕsjenica (sh) f

• Sicilian: campa (scn) f, papici m
• Slovak: husenica f
• Slovene: gosenica (sl) f
• Spanish: oruga (es) f, cuncuna (es) f
• Sundanese: hileud
• Swahili: kiwavi (sw) 7 or 8
• Swedish: fjärilslarv c (larva of a butterfly), mallarv c (larva of a moth)
• Tajik: кирмак (kirmak)
• Tamil: கம்பளிப்பூச்சி (ta) (kampaḷippūcci)
• Telugu: గొంగళిపురుగు (te) (goṅgaḷipurugu)
• Thai: หนอนผีเสื้อ (nɔ̌ɔn pǐi-sʉ̂ʉa), ด้วง (th) (dûuang), บุ้ง (th) (bûng) (especially hairy), ร่าน (th) (râan)
• Tibetan: འབུ་སྤུ་ཟོག ('bu spu zog)
• Turkish: tırtıl (tr)
• Turkmen: gurçuk
• Udi: тыртыр (tərtər)
• Ukrainian: гу́сениця f (húsenycja), гу́сінь f (húsinʹ)
• Urdu: سنڈی‎ f (sunḍī), پوکا‎ m (pokā)
• Uyghur: تۈكلۈك قۇرت‎ (tüklük qurt)
• Uzbek: qurt (uz), kapalak qurti
• Vietnamese: sâu (vi), sâu róm (vi), sâu bướm
• Vilamovian: raojp f
• Volapük: jönul (vo), (diminutive) jönulil
• Walloon: halene (wa) f
• Welsh: lindysyn m, Siani flewog f (hairy)
• Yiddish: שלייערל‎ f (shleyerl), ^{(please verify)} רויפּע‎ f (roype)
• Yoruba: wùkúwùkú

vehicle with a caterpillar track

• Bulgarian: вери́жен автомоби́л m (verížen avtomobíl)
• Catalan: eruga (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 履帶式車輛, 履带式车辆 (lǚdàishì chēliàng)

• Esperanto: ĉenbendo, raŭpo (eo)
• Finnish: telaketjutraktori, (informally) katepillari
• German: Raupe (de) f, Raupenfahrzeug (de) n
• Greek: ερπυστριοφόρος ελκυστήρας m (erpystriofóros elkystíras)
• Hungarian: hernyótalpas traktor, lánctalpas jármű

• Japanese: キャタピラ (kyatapira), 無限軌道 (むげんきどう, mugen kidō)
• Macedonian: гасеничар m (gaseničar)
• Polish: pojazd gąsienicowy m
• Portuguese: veículo com lagartas m
• Romanian: șenilă (ro) f
• Russian: гу́сеничный тра́ктор m (gúseničnyj tráktor)
• Spanish: oruga (es) f, tractor de oruga m
• Yoruba: katakata

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Swahili: ^{(please verify)} kiwavi (sw) (nc 7/8)

See also

• pillar

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Swedish

Noun

caterpillar c

1. A vehicle with caterpillar track

   Synonym: bandfordon

Declension

Declension of caterpillar
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	caterpillar	caterpillarn	caterpillrar	caterpillrarna
Genitive	caterpillars	caterpillarns	caterpillrars	caterpillrarnas