pupa

pu·pa
P3U1P3A1
/ˈpjuːpə/

noun

An insect in the development stage between larva and adult.

Similar
pupe
OriginLatin pūpa →
Less commonScrabble 8
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Meanings

nounpupa (plural pupae or pupas or (archaic) pupæ)

plural pupae · plural pupas · archaic plural pupæ

  1. biologyAn insect in the development stage between larva and adult.

    The public is the pupae of the purposely purblind […]

    1959 April 21, Walt Kelly, Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips, Seattle, Wash.: Fantagraphics Books, published 2011, →ISBN, page 34

    Synonyms: pupe

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAn insect in the development stage between larva and adult.

Similar
pupe

Origin

  1. Latinpūpa“little girl; doll, puppet”
  2. Englishpupa

Borrowed from New Latin, from a special use of Latin pūpa (“little girl; doll, puppet”). Doublet of pupe; compare also puppet, puppy.

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic خَادِرَة, شَرْنَقَة
  • خَادِرَة (ḵādira)insect
  • شَرْنَقَة (šarnaqa)insect
Bengali পিউপা
  • পিউপা (piupa)insect
Bulgarian какавида
  • какавида (kakavida)insect
Chinese Mandarin 蛹
  • 蛹 (yǒng)insect
Czech kukla
  • kuklainsect
Danish puppe
  • puppeinsect
Dutch pop
  • popinsect
Esperanto pupo
  • pupoinsect
Estonian nukk
  • nukkinsect
Finnish kotelo
  • koteloinsect
French chrysalide, nymphe
  • chrysalideinsect
  • nympheinsect
German Puppe
  • Puppeinsect
Greek χρυσαλλίδα
  • χρυσαλλίδα (chrysallída)insect
Hebrew גֹּלֶם, גולם
  • גֹּלֶםinsect
  • גולם (gólem)insect
Hindi प्यूपा
  • प्यूपा (pyūpā)insect
Hungarian báb
  • bábinsect
Icelandic púpa
  • púpainsect
Indonesian kepompong
  • kepomponginsect
Italian pupa
  • pupainsect
Japanese 蛹
  • 蛹 (sanagi)insect
Korean 번데기
  • 번데기 (beondegi)insect
Latvian kūniņa
  • kūniņainsect
Lithuanian lėliukė
  • lėliukėinsect
Malay pupa
  • pupainsect
Māori tūngoungou
  • tūngoungouinsect
Norwegian Bokmål puppe
  • puppeinsect
Persian شفیره
  • شفیره (šafire)insect
Polish poczwarka
  • poczwarkainsect
Portuguese pupa
  • pupainsect
Romanian pupă
  • pupăinsect
Russian ку́колка, хризали́да
  • ку́колка (kúkolka)insect
  • хризали́да (xrizalída)insect
Slovak kukla
  • kuklainsect
Spanish crisálida
  • crisálidainsect
Swedish puppa
  • puppainsect
Tagalog tilas
  • tilasinsect
Thai ดักแด้
  • ดักแด้ (dàk-dɛ̂ɛ)insect
Turkish krizalit, pupa
  • krizalitinsect
  • pupainsect
  • kavırçakinsect
Ukrainian ля́лечка
  • ля́лечка (ljálečka)insect
Vietnamese nhộng
  • nhộnginsect
Welsh chwiler, pwpa
  • chwilerinsect
  • pwpainsect

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with pupa

stupa
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

pupa. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pupa

MLA

“pupa.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pupa. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pupa,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pupa.

Source: pupa on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.