firefly
/ˈfaɪ.əˌflaɪ/US/ˈfaɪ.ɚˌflaɪ/
firefly noun: any beetle of the family Lampyridae, which exhibit bioluminescence during twilight.
Noun
firefly (plural fireflies)
- Any beetle of the family Lampyridae, which exhibit bioluminescence during twilight.
- Fireflies are the best-known insects that produce light. […] Many fireflies use their light to communicate, particularly at mating time when males and females have to get together.2000, Exploring Life Science, 2: Bats—Cave Life, Marshall Cavendish, page 96
- The luciferins are different in different species and today both the luciferin and luciferase in the firefly are available in the crystalline form.2004, B. V. David, T. N. Ananthakrishnan, “Chapter 20: Bioluminescence”, in General and Applied Entomology, 2nd edition, Tata McGraw-Hill, page 130
- Synonyms:
- lightning beetle, lightning bug, glow fly
Proper noun capitalized: Firefly
Firefly
- A locality in the MidCoast council area, eastern New South Wales, Australia.
firefly meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
firefly in Hindi
- Lampyridae
- ज्योतिरिंगण jyotiriṅgaṇ, खद्योत khadyot, जुगनू jugnū
firefly in Tamil
- Lampyridae
- மின்மினிப்பூச்சி miṉmiṉippūcci, கீடமணி kīṭamaṇi, ஞலவல் ñalaval, மின்மினி miṉmiṉi
firefly in Marathi
- Lampyridae
- काजवा kājvā
firefly in Urdu
- Lampyridae
- جگنو jugnū
More languagesFewer languages
- firefly in Bengali
- জোনাকি jōnaki, জুনি juni, জুনিপোকা junipōka, জ্যোতিরিঙ্গ jōtiriṅgo
- firefly in Telugu
- మిణుగురుపురుగు miṇugurupurugu
- firefly in Malayalam
- ഇംഗണം iṅgaṇaṁ, ഖദ്യോതം khadyōtaṁ, മിന്നാമിനുങ്ങ് minnāminuṅṅŭ
- firefly in Kannada
- ಮಿಂಚುಂಬುಳು, ಮಿಂಚುಬುಳು, ಮಿಂಚುಹುಳ, ಮಿಂಚುಹುಳು
- firefly in Punjabi
- ਜੁਗਨੂਂ jugnū̃
- firefly in Gujarati
- આગિયો āgiyo
- firefly in Sanskrit
- ज्योतिरिङ्गण jyotiriṅgaṇa, खद्योत khadyota
- firefly in Assamese
- জোনাকী zünaki
- firefly in Nepali
- फायरफ्लाई, फायरफ्लाय, फायरफ्लाइ
- firefly in Tagalog
- alitaptap
- firefly in Arabic
- يَرَاعَة yarāʕa, حُبَاحِب ḥubāḥib
- firefly in Malay
- kelip-kelip, kunang-kunang
- firefly in Indonesian
- kunang-kunang
- firefly in Persian
- کرم شبتاب kerm-e šab-tâb
- firefly in Thai
- หิ่งห้อย hìng-hɔ̂i
- firefly in Vietnamese
- đom đóm, huỳnh
- firefly in Myanmar
- ပိုးစုန်းကြူး pui:cun:kru:
Examples of firefly in a sentence
- Seen from the air at night, tiny villages bespeckle the Indian landscape with firefly glows.
- The lambent glow of fireflies delighted the children.
- The glimmer of the fireflies was pleasant to watch.
Synonyms of firefly
Forms of firefly
| plural | fireflies |
|---|---|
| alternative form | fire-fly |
Origin of firefly
Endocentric compound of fire + fly, because the insects glow; whence also lightning bug. Compare glow fly, glowworm, and lanternfly. Compare typologically Ancient Greek λαμπυρίς (lampurís, “glowworm”) (<+ πῦρ (pûr)).
Words formed from firefly
Questions about firefly
- What does firefly mean?
- Firefly means any beetle of the family Lampyridae, which exhibit bioluminescence during twilight.
- What is firefly in Hindi?
- Firefly in Hindi is ज्योतिरिंगण (jyotiriṅgaṇ), खद्योत (khadyot), जुगनू (jugnū). See Firefly meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is firefly?
- Firefly can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce firefly?
- Firefly is pronounced /ˈfaɪ.əˌflaɪ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of firefly?
- The plural of firefly is fireflies.
Words near firefly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: firefly (page history and authors); Firefly (page history and authors); firefly (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); firefly (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-firefly.wav.
Cite this entry: “firefly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/firefly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.