Pupa

//ˈpjuːpə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An insect in the development stage between larva and adult.

    "The public is the pupae of the purposely purblind […]"

  2. 2
    an insect in the inactive stage of development (when it is not feeding) intermediate between larva and adult wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
caterpillargrublarvamaggotnymphpupe

Example

More examples

"The insect grew out of a pupa into an imago."

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin, from a special use of Latin pūpa (“little girl; doll, puppet”). Doublet of pupe; compare also puppet, puppy.

More for "pupa"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.