English

edit
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
 
A caterpillar—the larva of a butterfly or moth.

Alternative forms

edit

Etymology

edit

From Middle English catirpel, catirpeller, probably from Old Northern French catepeluse (Modern French chatte + pileuse (hairy cat)), from Late Latin catta + pilōsa. The sense "rapacious, extortionate person" arose by association with obsolete piller (plunderer).

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

caterpillar (plural caterpillars)

  1. The larva of a butterfly or moth; leafworm.
    The bird just ate that green caterpillar.
  2. A vehicle with a caterpillar track; a crawler.
  3. (mathematics) A set of subtrees of a tree.
  4. (obsolete) A rapacious, extortionate person preying upon the community.

Derived terms

edit

Translations

edit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

edit

caterpillar (third-person singular simple present caterpillars, present participle caterpillaring, simple past and past participle caterpillared)

  1. (intransitive) To move along slowly, drawing one's body up, in the manner of a caterpillar.

See also

edit

Swedish

edit
 
Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sv

Noun

edit

caterpillar c

  1. A vehicle with caterpillar track
    Synonym: bandfordon

Declension

edit

References

edit