ladybug
Americannoun
-
ladybugs
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ladybug
Explanation
A ladybug is a tiny, flying beetle that's usually red with black dots. Some people think it's good luck when a ladybug lands on them. Scientifically, the ladybug is known as a coccinellid, one of a family of insects that are generally brightly colored and spotted. They are sometimes also called "lady birds" or "lady cows." Gardeners love them because they tend to eat pesky bugs like aphids that feed on plants and flowers. The lady part of their name refers to the Bible's Virgin Mary, named for the red cape she wears in many well-known paintings.
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:
Many of them, Losey said, assume the insects must be a different bug altogether, since “no self-respecting ladybug would come into my house.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 16, 2025
In another, a ladybug drinks water from a dewdrop on a long blade of grass.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 22, 2024
As Stickman peered out from behind the fruit bowl, he saw a friendly-looking ladybug named Lila, who had accidentally knocked over the saltshaker.
From New York Times ● Jun. 8, 2023
“If we see a kid get interested in a ladybug crawling on the ground, we turn that into a month-long lesson on what it eats, its transformation and how it protects the garden.”
From Washington Times ● Jan. 5, 2023
“It does,” I say, noticing a ladybug has landed on my hand.
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
Its ascendance has contributed to the population decline of various native ladybug species—and more Americans associating ladybugs with infestation and invasion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 16, 2025
Participants placed some animals, such as squirrels and ladybugs, in all or almost all locations.
From Science Daily ● May 8, 2024
She arrived in a white short-sleeved, high-necked sweater, dotted with outsize ladybugs, and her affect was as wholesome, earnest and embraceably eccentric as her style.
From New York Times ● May 10, 2023
Shilling’s upcoming solo exhibition of paintings and ceramics, “A Bug’s Life” at Jeffrey Deitch Los Angeles in April, will feature “spring themes” such as frogs, flora and fauna, ladybugs, caterpillars and butterflies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2023
Billy, in fact, had a paperweight in his office which was a blob of polished amber with three ladybugs embedded in it.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
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.
