underwing

U1N1D2E1R1W4I1N1G2

noun

A hind wing on an insect.

UncommonScrabble 14

Meanings

noununderwing (plural underwings)

plural underwings

  1. A hind wing on an insect.

    The upper wings of the moth which Jacob held were undoubtedly marked with kidney-shaped spots of a fulvous hue. But there was no crescent upon the underwing.

    1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 2, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC
  2. A member of the genus Catocala, a nocturnal moth which usually has brightly coloured underwings.
  3. biologyThe underside of a bird's wing.

    The ‘white-tailed’ kites in the genus Elanus (‘kite’) are small, gull-like, grey-and-white hawks with black forewing patches and varying amounts of black on the underwings.

    2019, Stephen Debus, “Small Kites, Genus Elanus”, in Birds of Prey of Australia: A Field Guide, 3rd edition, Clayton South, Vic.: CSIRO Publishing, →ISBN, part II (Handbook), page 113

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

underwing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underwing

MLA

“underwing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underwing. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “underwing,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/underwing.

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