Word.ws English Dictionary

papilionaceous

papilionaceous adjective: pertaining to a butterfly or butterflies.

Adjective

papilionaceous (comparative more papilionaceous, superlative most papilionaceous)

  1. (obsolete) Pertaining to a butterfly or butterflies.
    • Thefe are alfo called by Reaumur Papillionaceous Flies, that have their wings half tranfparent.1792, Richard Brookes, Oliver Goldsmith, Jan Swammerdam, chapter XI, in The Natural History of Insects, page 129
  2. Having a corolla in the form of a butterfly, with prominent wing-like petals; (generally) pertaining to the Faboidea (Papilionoidea) family of plants.
    • [T]he broad road is lined with wild bushes and tangled shrubs lavishly decked with brilliant blossoms: the lentisk, so covered with yellow, papilionaceous flowers [translating Schmetterlingsblumen] that not a green leaf is visible…1962, JW Goethe, translated by WH Auden and Elizabeth Mayer, Italian Journey, Penguin, published 1970, page 261
  3. (figuratively) Like a butterfly; showy; capricious.
    • Ali G was a glorious, comedic butterfly, but it's my sad duty to report that his exquisitely papilionaceous character is currently being broken upon a wheel.2000 April 3, Evening Standard

papilionaceous meaning in Tamil

papilionaceous in Tamil

பேபிலியோனேஷஸ், வண்ணாத்திப்பூச்சியுருவான

Forms of papilionaceous

comparativemore papilionaceous
superlativemost papilionaceous

Origin of papilionaceous

From New Latin papilionaceus (from Latin pāpiliō (“butterfly”)) + -ous. In scientific sense, after Papilionaceae (family name).

Questions about papilionaceous

What does papilionaceous mean?
Papilionaceous means pertaining to a butterfly or butterflies.
What is papilionaceous in Tamil?
Papilionaceous in Tamil is பேபிலியோனேஷஸ், வண்ணாத்திப்பூச்சியுருவான. See Papilionaceous meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is papilionaceous?
Papilionaceous is an adjective.

Words near papilionaceous in the dictionary

  1. papiliform
  2. papilio
  3. papiliochrome
  4. papiliochromes
  5. papilioerythrinone
  6. papilionaceous
  7. papilionate
  8. papilionid
  9. papilionids
  10. papilionoid
  11. papilionoids

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: papilionaceous (page history and authors); papilionaceous (Tamil Wiktionary) (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:

Cite this entry: “papilionaceous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/papilionaceous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.