larva
Americannoun
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larvae
plural
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Entomology. the immature, wingless, feeding stage of an insect that undergoes complete metamorphosis.
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any animal in an analogous immature form.
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the young of any invertebrate animal.
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Roman Antiquity. larvae, malignant ghosts, as lemures.
noun
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larvae
plural
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An animal in an early stage of development that differs greatly in appearance from its adult stage. Larvae are adapted to a different environment and way of life from those of adults and go through a process of metamorphosis in changing to adults. Tadpoles are the larvae of frogs and toads.
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The immature, wingless, and usually wormlike feeding form of those insects that undergo three stages of metamorphosis, such as butterflies, moths, and beetles. Insect larvae hatch from eggs, later turn into pupae, and finally turn into adults.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of larva
First recorded in 1645–55; from New Latin; special use of Latin larva “a ghost, specter, mask, skeleton”; akin to Lares
Explanation
The immature form of many insects and amphibians is a larva. A caterpillar is one example of a larva — it has hatched from an egg and will eventually become a fully mature butterfly. You may picture a larva as a little grubby white bug, and in many cases you'd be correct. Many insects pass through a larval stage in which they resemble grubs — in fact, grubs are the larva of insects like June bugs and Japanese beetles. Other familiar larvae include tadpoles and maggots. The name, which means "evil spirit" or "terrifying mask" in Latin, comes from the idea that a larval insect's final form is hidden, or "masked."
Vocabulary lists containing larva
ACT Vocabulary List
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30 GRE Words Beginning with "K" "L""M" and "N" and "O"
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Animals (Zoology) - Introductory
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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:
That’s because a screwworm larva “attacks living flesh,” Talbot said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026
Working with week-old zebrafish larva, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and colleagues decoded how the connections formed by a network of neurons in the brainstem guide the fishes' gaze.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 22, 2024
A doctor without firsthand knowledge of Kennedy's medical history told the Times that details described in the deposition pointed to a pork tapeworm larva.
From Salon ● May 8, 2024
It has set its sights on a bizarre-looking insect larva known as the mealybug ladybird, which sports a coat of white, waxy filaments that resembles fleece.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 15, 2024
As Maria discovered, all butterflies and moths undergo complete metamorphosis, which means they move through four very different phases: egg, larva, pupa, and adult.
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
Runners up in the competition included videos of a roundworm encountering a single-celled organism and microscopic jellyfish larvae suspended in droplets of water.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
It brings together several types of information, including confirmed detections, environmental conditions that may favor the fly and its larvae, and reports in the news media.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026
New World screwworm differs sharply from most fly larvae.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026
The research team will now trial the feasibility of a mobile oyster hatchery, in the hope it could both supply oyster larvae to coastal communities and help rebuild oyster beds in various areas.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
Her caribou had been so infested with the larvae of nose flies it had not been able to eat.
From "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George
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.
