praying mantis

/ˈpɹeɪ.ɪŋ ˈmæntɪs/

praying mantis noun: any of various predatory, cannibalistic insects of the order Mantodea that have a prayer-like stance.

Image: Alvesgaspar, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

praying mantis (plural praying mantises or praying mantes)

Any of various predatory, cannibalistic insects of the order Mantodea that have a prayer-like stance.
- Scientists have discovered that female praying mantises who eat their mates after sex produce a greater number of eggs than those who do not, with the bodies of the ill-fated males used to aid their production.2016 June 28, Nicola Davis, “Having your partner for dinner? Mantis cannibalism boosts fertility – study”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 07 Mar 2017
- When the female praying mantis is mating, she does not bite the head off the male with one swift snip: she chomps into it, like an apple. It appears to have the texture of a honeydew melon.2021 May 27, Helen Sullivan, “A praying mantis: she bites into her mate’s head like an apple and cleans her face ‘like a cat’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2023
(regional) European mantis: a mantid of the species Mantis religiosa.
(broadly) A woman who preys on men (from the idea that female praying mantises eat males after sex).

praying mantis meaning in Tamil, Tagalog, Arabic and Malay

praying mantis in Tamil

இடையன்பூச்சி, கும்பிடுபூச்சி, மழைப்பூச்சி, தொழுபூச்சி

praying mantis in Tagalog

any of various predatory insects of the Mantidae family: sambasamba, sasamba, mandadangkal

praying mantis in Arabic

any of various predatory insects of the Mantidae family: فَرَس اَلنَّبِيّ faras an-nabiyy

praying mantis in Malay

any of various predatory insects of the Mantidae family: mentadak

More languagesFewer languages

praying mantis in Persian: آخوندک âxundak
praying mantis in Thai: ตั๊กแตนตำข้าว dták-gà-dtɛɛn-dtam-kâao, ตั๊กแตนต่อยมวย

Forms of praying mantis

plural	praying mantises
plural	praying mantes

Origin of praying mantis

Mantis from Ancient Greek μάντις (mántis). Named "praying mantis" for their stance, with the forelegs held together in a way that resembles a person praying. Similar designations exist in many European as well as non-European languages. Compare for example French mante religieuse (literally “religious mantis”), German Gottesanbeterin (literally “God-worshipper”), Portuguese louva-a-deus (literally “God-praiser”), Persian آخوندک (âxundak, literally “little cleric”).

Questions about praying mantis

What does praying mantis mean?: Praying mantis means any of various predatory, cannibalistic insects of the order Mantodea that have a prayer-like stance.
What is praying mantis in Tamil?: Praying mantis in Tamil is இடையன்பூச்சி, கும்பிடுபூச்சி, மழைப்பூச்சி. See Praying mantis meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is praying mantis?: Praying mantis is a noun.
How do you pronounce praying mantis?: Praying mantis is pronounced /ˈpɹeɪ.ɪŋ ˈmæntɪs/.
What is the plural of praying mantis?: The plural of praying mantis is praying mantises.

Words near praying mantis in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: praying mantis (page history and authors); praying mantis (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Neøn-praying mantis.wav.

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