chrysalis
/ˈkɹɪsəlɪs/
chrysalis noun: a butterfly pupa or the pupal stage of the butterfly lifestyle; (originally) any pupal stage of any insect wherein the pupa is largely inactive and takes no food.
Noun
chrysalis (plural chrysalises or chrysalides or (rare) chrysalisses)
- A butterfly pupa or the pupal stage of the butterfly lifestyle; (originally) any pupal stage of any insect wherein the pupa is largely inactive and takes no food.
- Amongst the particular signs testifying the same thing, are also those exhibited by worms which feed on herbs, which, when they are to undergo a metamorphosis, encompass themselves as with a womb, that they may be born again, being therein changed into nymphs and chrysalisses, and presently into...1828, The Athanasian Creed, Extracted from the Apocalypse or Book of Revelations Explained, of Emanuel Swedenborg, Boston, Mass.: Adonis Howard, […], page 174
- The herbaceous or herbiferous produce had such gummy gelatinous properties, that tiniest tiddles incorporated themselves into huge chrysalisses, from whence monster butterflies egged it, all the world over, like snowberries, during a moist September, as soon as the blossom is by!1857, Charles Hancock, Gaieties and Gravities for Holy Days and Holidays, London: Saunders and Otley, […], page 155
- The bare hanging cocoon of butterfly pupae; (originally) any cocoon.
- Any limiting environment or situation escaped during one's growth or development in the manner of a butterfly.
- However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
- No, no matter how far Ray Kurzweil gets with his artificial intelligence project at Google, we cannot simply rise from the chrysalis of matter as pure consciousness.2020 September 1, Douglas Rushkoff, “The Privileged Have Entered Their Escape Pods”, in OneZero
Verb
chrysalis (third-person singular simple present chrysalises, present participle chrysalising, simple past and past participle chrysalised)
- To form a chrysalis or cocoon.
- June 11. it chryſaliſed into a ſmall round ſilk-bag, mothed the 27th. […] The ground of the caterpillar is yellow, thick ſet with warts, and black-haired ſtars; chryſaliſed into a ſilk-bag Jan. 17. hatched the 28th into a yellow moth, ſhaded with red, as the painting repreſents it.1767, Jacobi Petiveri Opera, Historiam Naturalem Spectantia: Containing Several Thousand Figures of Birds, Beasts, Fish, Reptiles, Insects, Shells, Corals, and Fossils, volume I, London: […] John...
- One memorable day last January a caterpillar which had chrysalised happily in a ventilator came out in the office in full glory as a butterfly, under the impression it was summer.1925, Punch, page 512
- To metamorphize, to undergo metamorphosis, to transform.
- He is in uniform, and for three years flutters on the parade, in the beer-gardens, in the gallery at the theatre, and then he chrysalises into the old paternal bauer suit and the patriarchal ideas.1879, S[abine] Baring-Gould, Germany, Present and Past, volume I, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], page 129
- “THE PALACE OF PUCK” CHRYSALISED INTO MUSICAL COMEDY—BUTTERFLIES AT THE APOLLO1908, The Sphere: An Illustrated Newspaper for the Home, page 166
Proper noun capitalized: Chrysalis
Chrysalis
- A hypothetical former moon of Saturn, whose gravitational influence is proposed as the source of Saturn's inclination and near-resonance with Uranus, and whose destruction by gravitational disruption is proposed as the source of Saturn's rings.
- A proposed generation ship, which would use fusion rockets and take 400 years to travel from the Sun to Alpha Centauri. See PROJECT HYPERION and Project Hyperion (interstellar).
chrysalis meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Sanskrit and Tagalog
chrysalis in Tamil
- பொற்புழு, கிரிசலிசு
chrysalis in Bengali
- প্রজাপতির মাঝি, পিউপা অবস্থা
chrysalis in Sanskrit
- a chrysalis
- डिम्ब ḍimba
chrysalis in Tagalog
- the pupa of a butterfly
- tilas
More languagesFewer languages
- chrysalis in Arabic
- خَادِرَة ḵādira
- chrysalis in Malay
- kepompong
- chrysalis in Thai
- ดักแด้ dàk-dɛ̂ɛ
- chrysalis in Vietnamese
- nhộng
Examples of chrysalis in a sentence
- Caterpillars, chrysalisses soon reveal / The future gandy butterfly.1865, [Johann Wolfgang von] Goethe, translated by William Barnard Clarke, Translation of Goethe’s Faust, Iˢᵗ and IIⁿᵈ Parts, Freiburg...
- She was like an insect new-hatched from its chrysalis, naked and unprotected in a dawn she could not face.1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw, chapter VII, in A House is Built, section VIII:
- And caterpillars and chrysalisses and things, and lots of nice drawings, coloured with felt pens.1979, Sheila Lavelle, My Best Fiend, London: Hamish Hamilton, →ISBN, page 165:
- Only in spring does a fourth larva, similar to the second one, develop, chrysalising later and then becoming a beetle.1940, Karl von Frisch, translated by Ernst Fellner and Betty Inskip, You and Life, The Scientific Book Club, page 202:
Forms of chrysalis
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | chrysalises |
| plural | chrysalides |
| plural (rare) | chrysalisses |
| alternative form (rare) | chrysallis |
| alternative form (archaic) | chrysalid |
| alternative form (archaic) | chrysaloid |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | chrysalises |
| present participle | chrysalising |
| past participle | chrysalised |
| past | chrysalised |
Origin of chrysalis
From Latin chrysalis, variant of chrȳsallis, from Ancient Greek χρυσαλλίς (khrusallís), usually derived from χρυσός (khrusós, “gold, golden”) + -αλλ- + -ις (-is, “-id: forming feminine nouns”) but compare θρυαλλίς (thruallís) and ἀρυβαλλίς (aruballís), both believed to come from a Pre-Greek substrate on the basis of their unusual endings.
From chrysalis. Coined in 2022.
Words formed from chrysalis
Questions about chrysalis
- What does chrysalis mean?
- Chrysalis means a butterfly pupa or the pupal stage of the butterfly lifestyle; (originally) any pupal stage of any insect wherein the pupa is largely inactive and takes no food.
- What is chrysalis in Tamil?
- Chrysalis in Tamil is பொற்புழு, கிரிசலிசு. See Chrysalis meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use chrysalis in a sentence?
- Caterpillars, chrysalisses soon reveal / The future gandy butterfly.
- What part of speech is chrysalis?
- Chrysalis can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce chrysalis?
- Chrysalis is pronounced /ˈkɹɪsəlɪs/.
- What is the plural of chrysalis?
- The plural of chrysalis is chrysalises.
Words near chrysalis in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: chrysalis (page history and authors); Chrysalis (page history and authors); chrysalis (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); chrysalis (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); डिम्ब (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-chrysalis.wav.
Cite this entry: “chrysalis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chrysalis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.