chrysalis
Americannoun
noun
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the obtect pupa of a moth or butterfly
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anything in the process of developing
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The pupa of certain kinds of insects, especially of moths and butterflies, that is inactive and enclosed in a firm case or cocoon from which the adult eventually emerges.
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The case or cocoon of a chrysalis.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of chrysalis
1650–60; < Latin chrȳsalis < Greek chrȳsallís, equivalent to chrȳs- chrys- + -allis suffix, probably with diminutive value
Explanation
A chrysalis is the form a caterpillar takes before it emerges from its cocoon as a fully formed moth or butterfly. The chrysalis has hard skin that's left behind after the caterpillar sheds its soft outer skin. Besides forming itself into a chrysalis, a caterpillar is also able to spin a kind of sticky silk for attaching itself to a branch or leaf. The often gold-colored chrysalis stays attached while undergoing further transformation toward becoming a butterfly. Chrysalis comes from the Greek khrysallis, "golden pupa of the butterfly," from khrysos, "gold."
Vocabulary lists containing chrysalis
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"The caterpillars look like leaves, the chrysalis like bird droppings, and the adults stay high in trees," he explained.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
Trefry likened this awkward time of life to the stage in a butterfly’s development when a caterpillar disappears inside a chrysalis and dissolves into goo before reforming into something entirely new.
From Salon ● Nov. 24, 2025
Nearly every one of those caterpillars at some point drops from the tree canopy to overwinter or create a chrysalis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
Between “Snooze” and “Crybaby,” she was lifted on wires, revealing a gauze train in the shape of a chrysalis, to spellbinding effect.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2025
They wrap around her small, squirming body, until she's swaddled inside a pink chrysalis like a writhing worm.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
If you spent a week in the dry forest as a child, examining chrysalides and ocelot droppings, you might, as an adult, see the forest as something other than a purely economic resource.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 30, 2015
The tameness of these butterflies I ascribed in great measure to the fact of their having been hatched from chrysalides, and having therefore never known the sweets of liberty.
From Wild Nature Won By Kindness by Brightwen, Elizabeth
The chrysalides are inclosed in silken cocoons, but are not hairy.
From Butterflies and Moths (British) by Furneaux, William S.
In form the chrysalides of butterflies and moths are as variable as the caterpillars.
From Butterflies and Moths (British) by Furneaux, William S.
The chrysalides are armed with short spines projecting from the segments.
From Butterflies and Moths (British) by Furneaux, William S.
The world’s top AI companies are now emerging from their private-market chrysalises to sell shares via initial public offerings.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
For instance, well-meaning people have bought monarch-rearing kits online and even taken monarch butterfly chrysalises out of the wild to rear indoors.
From National Geographic ● Oct. 4, 2023
Then they transition to pupae, or chrysalises, for a week or two before emerging, or eclosing, for a short, winged adulthood.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 13, 2022
They lived in a mesh cage and grew bigger, much like the hero of Carle’s book, until they crawled and wiggled toward the top of the container, turning themselves into chrysalises.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2021
“In these collections, I saw countless other insects, but in a manner that lack both their origin and how they reproduced, that is to say how they changed from caterpillars to chrysalises and so on.”
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
