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Caterpillar English French Latin Catta Etymologically Late Cat

正面 13596.caterpillar
英 ['kætəpɪlə]美 ['kætɚpɪlɚ]

背面
释义:
n. [无脊椎] 毛虫;履带车adj. 有履带装置的
例句:
1. The caterpillar will eventually metamorphose into a butterfly.毛毛虫最终将蜕变成一只蝴蝶。

1. Etymologically, a caterpillar is a 'hairy cat'.2. 由于毛毛虫很像坦克的履带,所以 caterpillar 既表毛毛虫,又表履带、链轨。
caterpillar 毛虫cat, 猫。-pil, 毛,词源同peel, depilatory(脱毛)。因其毛如猫毛而得名。
caterpillarcaterpillar: [15] Etymologically, a caterpillar is a ‘hairy cat’. The word comes ultimately from late Latin *catta pilōsa: catta is the source of English cat, while pilōsus ‘hairy’ is a derivative of Latin pilus ‘hair’, from which English gets pile of a carpet. In Old French *catta pilōsa became chatepelose, which passed into English as catyrpel.The present-day form arose in the 16th century, probably from association with the now obsolete piller ‘plunderer’ (related to English pillage) – caterpillars being regarded, of course, as plunderers of leaves. The notion that caterpillars resemble small furry mammals is also reflected in such names as pussmoth and woolly bear.=> cat, pilecaterpillar (n.)mid-15c., catyrpel, probably altered (by association with Middle English piller "plunderer;" see pillage) from Old North French caterpilose "caterpillar" (Old French chatepelose), literally "shaggy cat" (probably in reference to the "wooly-bear" variety), from Late Latin catta pilosa, from catta "cat" (see cat (n.)) + pilosus "hairy, shaggy, covered with hair," from pilus "hair" (see pile (n.3)). Compare also French chenille "caterpillar," literally "little dog." A Swiss German name for it is teufelskatz "devil's cat." "The caterpillar has in many idioms received the name of other animals" [Kitchin, who cites also Milanese cagnon "little dog," Italian dialectal gattola "little cat," Kentish hop-dog, hop-cat, Portuguese lagarta "lizard." Compare also American English wooly-bear for the hairy variety. An Old English name for it was cawelworm "cole-worm." Caterpillar tractor is from 1908."

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