butterfly

Meaning

Noun

1. A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring.
2. (attributive) A use of surgical tape, cut into thin strips and placed across an open wound to hold it closed.
3. The butterfly stroke.
4. Any of several plane curves that look like a butterfly; see Butterfly curve (transcendental) and Butterfly curve (algebraic).
5. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, in-plural) Ellipsis of butterflies in one’s stomach (“A sensation of excited anxiety felt in the stomach”).
6. (archaic) Someone seen as being unserious and (originally) dressed gaudily; someone flighty and unreliable.
7. A combination of four options of the same type at three strike prices giving limited profit and limited risk.
8. A random change in an aspect of the timeline seemingly unrelated to the primary point of divergence, resulting from the butterfly effect.
9. A type of stretch in which one sits on the ground with the legs folded into a shape like that of a butterfly's wings, slightly rocking them up and down, resembling the wings fluttering.
10. A person who changes partners frequently.
11. A safety link or detaching hook above the cage attached to the winding rope to prevent the cage from being overwound.
12. (Philippine, Philippines, derogatory, often) party switcher; turncoat.

Verb

1. (transitive) To cut (food) almost entirely in half and spread the halves apart, in a shape suggesting the wings of a butterfly.
2. (transitive) To cut strips of surgical tape or plasters into thin strips, and place across (a gaping wound) to close it.
3. (transitive) To cause events after the point of divergence to not happen as they did in real history, and people conceived after the point of divergence to not exist in recognizable form, due to the random variations introduced by the butterfly effect.

Synonyms

butterflies

moth

butterfly stroke

coquette

coquet

romance

dally

mash

chat up

philander

flirt

😘

scatterbrain

skitter

sprint

strangler

swallowtail

butterbun

four-eye butterflyfish

four-eyed butteflyfish

sulfur butterfly

throttle flap

butterfly spread

katy

kete

turning valve

trailing leaf

gate throttle

butterfly moth

true butterfly

true butterflies

butterfly moths

butterfly fish

crotch

elephant

🐘

fly

✈️

foureye butterflyfish

gore

gusset

insect

leaf

lepidopteran

Translations

papillon

🦋

mariposa

🦋

farfalla

🦋

Schmetterling

🦋

vlinder

🦋

borboleta

🦋

papallona

🦋

πεταλούδα

kelebek

🦋

فراشة

🦋

Falter

papilio

🦋

mariposa

🦋

kapel

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈbʌtə(ɹ)flaɪ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: buterflie

Inherited from Old English: buterflēoge

Cognate with Dutch: botervlieg

Cognate with German: Butterfliege

Cognate with German: Molkendieb

Cognate with Low German: Botterlicker

Cognate with Dutch: boterschijte

Cognate with German: Schmetterling

In summary

From Middle English buterflie, butturflye, boterflye, from Old English buterflēoge, equivalent to butter + fly. Cognate with Dutch botervlieg, German Butterfliege (“butterfly”). The name may have originally been applied to butterflies of a yellowish color, 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-excretor”)). 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 Old English butor- (“beater”), a mutation of bēatan (“to beat”), but this would not explain the cognates in other languages or the other names formed with milk products.
Superseded non-native Middle English papilion (“butterfly”) borrowed from Old French papillon (“butterfly”).