Butterflies

How to spell butterflies

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce butterflies

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does butterflies mean?

1. nounInsects with large, often brightly coloured wings that fly by day.
2. nounA fluttering, nervous sensation in the stomach caused by anxiety or excitement.

Butterflies in a sentence

• The garden was full of butterflies drifting between the flowers.

• He felt butterflies in his stomach before the job interview.

• She photographed several rare butterflies on the woodland walk.

• The bride had butterflies as she waited at the back of the church.

Where does butterflies come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the plural of butterfly, a word recorded in Old English as buttorfleoge, joining butere, meaning 'butter', with fleoge, meaning 'fly' or 'flying insect'. The reason the two were combined is genuinely uncertain, and scholars have offered several explanations: one tradition held that the insects were attracted to butter or milk left uncovered, while another points to the pale, butter-yellow colour of common European species such as the brimstone. There is also an older Dutch relative, boterschijte, which crudely referred to the yellowish colour of the insect's droppings, hinting that the 'butter' link is about colour rather than appetite. The modern plural follows the regular English rule of changing a final y to ies, which is the small spelling trap here: writers must remember to drop the y before adding es. The figurative sense of nervous fluttering in the stomach grew in the twentieth century from the literal image of delicate wings beating.

How the word is built

• butter (from Old English butere)
• fly (from Old English fleoge, a flying insect)
• -es (plural; with y changing to ies)