Elytron
//ˈɛlɪtɹɒn// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A sheath or outer covering, especially around the spinal cord or over the hindwings of certain insects.
"In a corner, the Darkling Beetle rustles in its Cage, its Elytra the same unforgiving white as the great sand-waste call’d ‘Kalahari’ lying north of here […]"
- 2 either of the horny front wings in beetles and some other insects which cover and protect the functional hind wings wordnet
Example
More examples"In a corner, the Darkling Beetle rustles in its Cage, its Elytra the same unforgiving white as the great sand-waste call’d ‘Kalahari’ lying north of here […]"
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἔλυτρον (élutron, “sheath”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.