Meaning

4 senses
  1. The larva of a butterfly or moth; leafworm.

    The bird just ate that green caterpillar.

    Raupe

    гу́сеницаgúsenica

    гу́сеницяhúsenycja, гу́сіньhúsinʹ

    a wormlike and often brightly colored and hairy or spiny larva of a butterfly or moth

  2. A vehicle with a caterpillar track; a crawler.

    Raupe, Raupenfahrzeug

    гу́сеничный тра́кторgúseničnyj tráktor

  3. A set of subtrees of a tree.

  4. (obsolete)A rapacious, extortionate person preying upon the community.

Examples

60 sentences
  1. This caterpillar will become a beautiful butterfly.

    Ця гусениця перетвориться на прекрасного метелика. — ChickenKiev

    ruЭта гусеница превратится в прекрасную бабочку. — redscorp

    deDiese Raupe wird ein hübscher Schmetterling werden. — lilygilder

  2. My mother hated caterpillars, not to mention snakes.

  3. A butterfly is a mature caterpillar.

    Метелик - це зріла гусениця. — ChickenKiev

    ruБабочка - это зрелая гусеница. — shanghainese

    deEin Schmetterling ist eine erwachsene Raupe. — MUIRIEL

  4. The caterpillar turned into a butterfly.

    Гусениця перетворилася на метелика. — ChickenKiev

    ruГусеница превратилась в бабочку. — shanghainese

    deDie Raupe hat sich in einen Schmetterling verwandelt. — human600

  5. This caterpillar will turn into a beautiful butterfly.

    Ця гусениця перетвориться в прекрасного метелика. — ChickenKiev

    ruЭта гусеница превратится в красивую бабочку. — Selena777

    deDiese Raupe wird ein schöner Schmetterling werden. — Manfredo

Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
larva of a butterfly or moth:
Русский
By meaning 2
larva of a butterfly or moth:
vehicle with a caterpillar track:
Deutsch
By meaning 2
larva of a butterfly or moth:
vehicle with a caterpillar track:

Origin

From Middle English catirpel, catirpeller, probably from Old Northern French catepeluse (M

From Middle English catirpel, catirpeller, probably from Old Northern French catepeluse (Modern French chatte + pileuse (“hairy cat”)), from Late Latin catta + pilōsa. The sense "rapacious, extortionate person" arose by association with obsolete piller (“plunderer”). See Modern Norman cattepeleuse. Displaced native kaleworm, from Middle English cowle worm, cale worme (“caterpillar, corn weevil”), from Old English cawelwyrm, cawelwurm (“caterpillar”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: caterpillars
Singularcaterpillar
Pluralcaterpillars

regular

Synonyms

1 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • a large tracked vehicle that is propelled by two endless metal belts; frequently used for moving earth in construction and farm work:cat

Word family

15 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
caterpillar — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto