A colorful caterpillar on a leaf.
A little hairy worm-like animal that will build a cocoon and eventually become a butterfly is an example of a caterpillar.
Origin of caterpillarMiddle English catirpel ; from Norman French catepilose (OFr chatepelose), literally , hairy cat ; from Classical Latin catta, cat + pilosus ; from pilus, hair: see pile
- The wormlike larva of a butterfly or moth.
- Any of various insect larvae similar to those of the butterfly or moth.
Origin of caterpillarMiddle English catirpel, catirpeller, probably alteration of Old North French *catepelose : cate, cat (from Latin cattus) + pelose, hairy (from Latin pil&omacron;sus; see pilose). Word History: Larvae of moths and butterflies are popularly seen as resembling other, larger animals. Consider the Italian dialect word gatta, “cat, caterpillar”; the German dialect term t&udie;felskatz, “caterpillar” (literally “devil's cat”); the French word chenille, “caterpillar” (from a Vulgar Latin diminutive, *can&imacron;cula, of canis, “dog”); and last but not least, our own word caterpillar, which appears probably to have come from an unattested Old North French word *catepelose, meaning literally “hairy cat.” Our word caterpillar is first recorded in English in 1440 in the form catyrpel. Catyr, the first part of catyrpel, may indicate the existence of an English word *cater, meaning “tomcat,” otherwise attested only in caterwaul. *Cater would be cognate with Middle High German kater and Dutch kater. The latter part of catyrpel seems to have become associated with the word piller, “plunderer.” By giving the variant spelling –ar, Samuel Johnson's influential Dictionary set the spelling caterpillar with which we are familiar today.
death's-head hawkmoth caterpillar
From Middle English catirpel, catirpeller, probably from Old Northern French catepelose (Modern French chat + pileux (“hairy cat”)), from Late Latin cattus + pilōsus.