Meanings
plural butterfly strokes
- A swimming stroke in which the body is prone, the arms are moved in simultaneous circles, and the feet are kicked up and down.
As you begin to integrate butterfly into your workouts, begin with two to four full butterfly strokes from the wall, then swim easy freestyle for the remainder of the length.
2009, Jim Montgomery, Mo Chambers, “Butterfly”, in Mastering Swimming, →ISBN, page 56
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna swimming stroke in which the arms are thrown forward together out of the water while the feet kick up and down
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Bulgarian бътерфла́й
- бътерфла́й (băterfláj)swimming stroke
Chinese Cantonese 蝶式
- 蝶式 (dip⁶ sik¹)swimming stroke
Chinese Mandarin 蝶泳, 蝶式
- 蝶泳 (diéyǒng)swimming stroke
- 蝶式 (diéshì)swimming stroke
Czech motýlek, delfín
- motýlekswimming stroke
- delfínswimming stroke
Danish butterfly
- butterflyswimming stroke
Dutch vlinderslag
- vlinderslagswimming stroke
Finnish perhosuinti, perhonen
- perhosuintiswimming stroke
- perhonenswimming stroke
French papillon
- papillonswimming stroke
German Schmetterlingsschwimmen, Delphinschwimmen
- Schmetterlingsschwimmenswimming stroke
- Delphinschwimmenswimming stroke
- Schmetterlingswimming stroke
- Delphinswimming stroke
Greek πεταλούδα
- πεταλούδα (petaloúda)swimming stroke
Hawaiian ʻau mālolo
- ʻau māloloswimming stroke
Hungarian pillangóúszás
- pillangóúszásswimming stroke
Icelandic flugsund
- flugsundswimming stroke
Italian farfalla
- farfallaswimming stroke
Japanese バタフライ, バッタ
- バタフライ (batafurai)swimming stroke
- バッタ (batta)swimming stroke
- バタ (bata)swimming stroke
Korean 접영, 버터플라이
- 접영 (jeobyeong)swimming stroke
- 버터플라이 (beoteopeullai)swimming stroke
Latvian tauriņstils
- tauriņstilsswimming stroke
Māori kau aihe
- kau aiheswimming stroke
Norwegian Bokmål butterfly
- butterflyswimming stroke
Polish delfin, delfinek
- delfinswimming stroke
- delfinekswimming stroke
- motylswimming stroke
- motylekswimming stroke
- styl motylkowyswimming stroke
Portuguese nado borboleta, estilo borboleta
- nado borboletaswimming stroke
- estilo borboletaswimming stroke
- mariposaswimming stroke
- estilo de mariposaswimming stroke
Romanian fluture
- flutureswimming stroke
Russian баттерфля́й
- баттерфля́й (battɛrfljáj)swimming stroke
Slovak motýlik
- motýlikswimming stroke
Spanish mariposa
- mariposaswimming stroke
Swahili kipepeo
- kipepeoswimming stroke
Swedish fjärilsim
- fjärilsimswimming stroke
Turkish kelebek
- kelebekswimming stroke
Yiddish פֿלאַטערל־שוווּם
- פֿלאַטערל־שוווּם (flaterl-shvum)swimming stroke
Cite this entry
butterfly stroke. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/butterfly%20stroke
“butterfly stroke.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/butterfly%20stroke. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “butterfly stroke,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/butterfly%20stroke.
Source: butterfly stroke on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.