pupa
Americannoun
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pupae,
plural
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pupas
plural
noun
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pupae
plural
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An insect in the nonfeeding stage of development between the larva and adult, during which it typically undergoes a complete transformation within a protective cocoon or hardened case. Only certain kinds of insects, such as moths, butterflies, ants, and beetles, develop as larvae and pupae.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of pupa
1765–70; < New Latin, special use of Latin pūpa girl, doll, puppet. See pupil 1, puppet
Explanation
A pupa is an immature insect, in the stage of development just before adulthood. A butterfly or moth pupa is known as a "chrysalis." Some kinds of insects go through dramatic, distinct stages as they grow, otherwise known as metamorphosis. For these insects, the egg and larval stages are followed by a period of time as a pupa that can last weeks, or even years, depending on the insect species and what the temperature is. At the end of their time as a pupa, insects break open their shell or case and emerge, fully grown.
Vocabulary lists containing pupa
Growth, Development and Reproduction of Organisms - Middle School
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Growth, Development and Reproduction of Organisms - Introductory
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Growth, Development and Reproduction of Organisms - High School
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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 foods are extreme and run the gamut, from silkworm pupa to a whole goat head.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
Schmitt, whose work focuses on chemical communication in social insects, notes that workers can target a single sick pupa among many.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 3, 2025
One of the genes they've edited is a key regulator of molting from larva to pupa, which, when tweaked, yields larvae 50 percent larger than an unedited one.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 28, 2023
When a caterpillar finally encases itself into a pupa, it doesn’t just grow wings and emerge as a butterfly.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2023
When the adult butterfly is fully formed within the pupa, and the outside conditions are just right, the walls become transparent, revealing a glimpse of wings.
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
More than half of the Aedes albopictus pupae recorded in Baltimore were in a single low-income neighborhood.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
US officials said some four million sterile flies were already being released weekly from the sky, and that some four million more in the pupae stage were being deployed in ground release chambers.
From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 2026
Eggs and pupae sit low on vegetation over winter, making them vulnerable during prolonged flooding.
From BBC ● Mar. 1, 2026
To test whether this odor shift alone triggers the disinfection response, researchers transferred the altered scent to healthy pupae and monitored the workers' behavior.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 3, 2025
In some plates, caterpillars and pupae are shown with the wrong adults.
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
I think of middle school as being this time of tremendous change, when kids are kind of pupas again, and their environment is so important, and their environment is school.
From Slate ● Jan. 28, 2021
After that 1974 final, their president, Vicente Calderón described them as el pupas, the jinxed one.
From The Guardian ● May 28, 2016
The new work involves three different species of parasitic jewel wasps, tiny insects that drill into the pupas of flies and lay their eggs, letting the offspring feed on the host.
From Science Magazine ● Jul. 18, 2013
In about twelve days or longer they turn into tumblers or pupas, which in a few days longer come to the top when their backs split open and the mosquito comes out and flies away.
From Manual of Military Training Second, Revised Edition by James A. (James Alfred) Moss
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.
