Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Chrysalis
/ˈkrɪsəlɪs/noun
The hard-cased pupa of a butterfly.
The Greek roots
χρυσαλλίς
chrysallís
gold-coloured pupa
χρυσός
chrysós
gold
Literally: “the golden one”
The story of the word
Aristotle used χρυσαλλίς for the pupa, and the name is literal rather than poetic: some species carry metallic gold flecks, and a Monarch's case looks studded with gilt. English borrowed it through Latin in the 1650s. The same χρυσός gives chrysanthemum, the gold flower, and chrysoprase, a gold-green stone.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 1650s
Same family
chrysanthemumchrysolitechrysoprase
In a sentence
The chrysalis hung under the windowsill for eleven days and then split down the back.