pupa
/ˈpjuːpə/ noun
Forms pupae pupas pupæ
- noun (entomology) An insect in the development stage between larva and adult.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from New Latin, from a special use of Latin pūpa (“little girl; doll, puppet”). Doublet of pupe; compare also puppet, puppy.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any insect in that stage of its metamorphosis which usually immediately precedes the adult, or imago, stage.
- noun A genus of air-breathing land snails having an elongated spiral shell. Coarctate, or Obtected, pupa, a pupa which is incased in the dried-up skin of the larva, as in many Diptera.
Etymology [L. pupa girl. doll, puppet, fem. of pupus. Cf. Puppet.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “pupa”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details