butterfly wing
Lepidopteran flight surface
The delicate, scale-covered appendage that enables a butterfly to fly.
Butterfly wings are notable for their vivid patterns and colors, which serve purposes from camouflage to mate attraction.
The term often appears in discussions of fragile beauty or the butterfly effect—the idea that small causes can have large consequences: A butterfly wing in Brazil sets off a tornado in Texas.
- flutterRapid light movement
- monarchHereditary supreme ruler
- scalesPlates or weighing devices
- iridescentShowing shifting spectral colors
- gossamerFilmy, delicate material
delicate · membrane · pattern · eyespot · powder · dust particles · fragile · colorful · veined · translucent · metamorphosis · cocoon · dusty · flight · symmetry · swallowtail · painted · shimmer
- nature patternsspiral, fractal, honeycomb, branching, symmetry
- Delicate Thingsspider web, bubble, soap bubble, eggshell, tissue paper
- wingswingbeat, wingtip, flight feather, pinion, feather
- Biomimicrystructural color, honeycomb structures, honeycomb structure, abalone shell, spider silk
- iridescenceoil slick, soap bubble, mother-of-pearl, nacre, opal
- wing anatomyforewing, hindwing, venation, costa, radius
butterfly wingarmor plating
Defensive metal cladding
steel beam · concrete block · fortress wall · diamond · granite slab
butterfly winglead weight
Dense metal counterbalance
anvil · boulder · anchor · millstone · cannonball
butterfly, wing, butterflies, wings, winged, wingless, winging, wingspan, winglike