larva

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
I must begin all over again for the third time Until now, my investigations have been made some time after the laying, at a period when the larva is at least fairly developed.

View all »
Definitions (21)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. noun The newly hatched, wingless, often wormlike form of many insects before metamorphosis.
  2. noun The newly hatched, earliest stage of any of various animals that undergo metamorphosis, differing markedly in form and appearance from the adult.
  3. noun Roman Mythology A malevolent spirit of the dead; a lemur.
1 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (15)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • A ruby-red midge larva is the first water-dwelling organism found to be producing the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide —  New Scientist - Space
  • Most of the time, the larva is quite comfortable in its silk-lined apartment, but every now and then if the pod is in direct sunlight or if it gets too hot inside, the larva turns and tumbles inside until it has moved into the shade.
  • The anterior sensory ultrastructure of the C. elegans dauer larva was examined in several specimens and compared with that of the second - stage (L2) larva, which immediately precedes the dauer stage. —  CiteULike: Everyone's library
  • I suppose that we are initially human at birth rather than a larva, and that being Filipino, as a dynamic process, is a continuing delineation of our humanity. —  The Spy in the Sandwich Eats the Sun
  • In this state it is called a larva or worm. —  Langstroth on the Hive and the Honey-Bee A Bee Keeper's Manual
More examples »
 

Tags

larva hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 95 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin lārva, specter, mask (because it acts as a specter of or a mask for the adult form).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Also rarely larve (in def. 2); = D. G. Danish larve = Swedish larv (from F.); = French larve = Spanish Portuguese Italian larva, from New Latin larva, larva, from Latin larva, a ghost, specter, mask, skeleton.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈlɑrvə/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about twice a month.

Recently looked up

eulogistic · calibre · rigor · polytechnic · alp

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

qualms · poofter · oh for heaven's sake · embodies · silence