Meanings
plural silkworms
- Any of various caterpillars of moths that produce silk cocoons, especially Bombyx mori, the source of most commercial silk.
Each of the two breeding periods, one in spring and one in summer, requires 2 to 3 tons of fresh leaves to feed 80,000 silkworms that will produce, on average, 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of silk fiber.
2026, Elise Young, “Yagaa: Reviving Sericulture in Southern Mexico”, in Spin Off, volume L, number 1, page 16
Synonyms & antonyms
nounlarva of a saturniid moth; spins a large amount of strong silk in constructing its cocoon
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Englishseolcwyrm“silkworm”
- Middle Englishsilkwirm
- Englishsilkworm
From Middle English silkwirm, from Old English seolcwyrm (“silkworm”), equivalent to silk + worm.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans sywurm
- sywurmcaterpillar
Ancient Greek βόμβυξ
- βόμβυξ (bómbux)caterpillar
Arabic دُودَة اَلْقَزّ
- دُودَة اَلْقَزّ (dūdat al-qazz)caterpillar
Basque zetar
- zetarcaterpillar
Bengali তুঁত রেশম
- তুঁত রেশম (tũt reśom)caterpillar
Bulgarian копринена пеперуда
- копринена пеперуда (koprinena peperuda)caterpillar
Catalan cuc de seda
- cuc de sedacaterpillar
Chinese Mandarin 家蠶 /家蚕, 蠶寶寶 /蚕宝宝
- 家蠶 /家蚕 (jiācán)caterpillar
- 蠶寶寶 /蚕宝宝 (cánbǎobǎo)caterpillar
- 蠶 /蚕 (cán)caterpillar
Czech bourec morušový, bourec
- bourec morušovýcaterpillar
- boureccaterpillar
Danish silkeorm
- silkeormcaterpillar
Dutch zijdevlinderrups, zijderups
- zijdevlinderrupscaterpillar
- zijderupscaterpillar
Esperanto silkraŭpo
- silkraŭpocaterpillar
Estonian siidiuss
- siidiusscaterpillar
Finnish silkkiäistoukka, silkkitoukka
- silkkiäistoukkacaterpillar
- silkkitoukkacaterpillar
French ver à soie, magnan
- ver à soiecaterpillar
- magnancaterpillar
German Seidenspinner, Seidenraupe
- Seidenspinnercaterpillar
- Seidenraupecaterpillar
Greek μεταξοσκώληκας
- μεταξοσκώληκας (metaxoskólikas)caterpillar
Hebrew טוואי המשי
- טוואי המשי (taváy haméshi)caterpillar
Hindi रेशम कीट
- रेशम कीट (reśam kīṭ)caterpillar
Hungarian selyemhernyó
- selyemhernyócaterpillar
Icelandic silkiormur
- silkiormurcaterpillar
Indonesian ulat sutra
- ulat sutracaterpillar
Irish seiriceán
- seiriceáncaterpillar
Italian baco da seta, filugello
- baco da setacaterpillar
- filugellocaterpillar
- bombicecaterpillar
- bigattocaterpillar
Japanese 蚕, 家蚕
- 蚕 (kaiko)caterpillar
- 家蚕 (kasan)caterpillar
- 野蚕 (yasan)caterpillar
- カイコ (kaiko)caterpillar
Korean 누에
- 누에 (nue)caterpillar
Latin bombyx
- bombyxcaterpillar
Latvian zīdtauriņš, zīdtārpiņš
- zīdtauriņšcaterpillar
- zīdtārpiņšcaterpillar
Lithuanian šilkverpis
- šilkverpiscaterpillar
Malay ulat sutera
- ulat suteracaterpillar
Norwegian silkeorm
- silkeormcaterpillar
Norwegian Bokmål silkeorm
- silkeormcaterpillar
Persian کرم ابریشم
- کرم ابریشم (kerm-e abrišam)caterpillar
Polish jedwabnik morwowy, jedwabnik
- jedwabnik morwowycaterpillar
- jedwabnikcaterpillar
Portuguese bicho-da-seda, sirgo
- bicho-da-sedacaterpillar
- sirgocaterpillar
Romanian vierme de mătase
- vierme de mătasecaterpillar
Russian ту́товый шелкопря́д, шелкопря́д
- ту́товый шелкопря́д (tútovyj šelkoprjád)caterpillar
- шелкопря́д (šelkoprjád)caterpillar
Slovak priadka morušová
- priadka morušovácaterpillar
Spanish gusano de seda
- gusano de sedacaterpillar
Swedish silkesmask
- silkesmaskcaterpillar
Tamil பட்டுப்புழு, பட்டுப்பூச்சி
- பட்டுப்புழு (paṭṭuppuḻu)caterpillar
- பட்டுப்பூச்சி (paṭṭuppūcci)caterpillar
Thai ตัวไหม, ไหม
- ตัวไหม (dtua măi)caterpillar
- ไหม (măi)caterpillar
- บี้ (bîi)caterpillar
Turkish ipek böceği
- ipek böceğicaterpillar
Ukrainian шовковичний шовкопряд, шовкопряд
- шовковичний шовкопряд (šovkovyčnyj šovkoprjad)caterpillar
- шовкопряд (šovkoprjad)caterpillar
Urdu ریشم کا کیڑا
- ریشم کا کیڑاcaterpillar
Vietnamese tằm
- tằmcaterpillar
Welsh sidanbryf
- sidanbryfcaterpillar
Yiddish זײַדוואָרעם, זײַדפֿלאַטערל
- זײַדוואָרעם (zaydvorem)caterpillar
- זײַדפֿלאַטערל (zaydflaterl)caterpillar
- זײַדשפּינער (zaydshpiner)caterpillar
Cite this entry
silkworm. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/silkworm
“silkworm.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/silkworm. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “silkworm,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/silkworm.
Source: silkworm on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.