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moth

  • noun
  • môth

Any flying insect of the order Lepidoptera not in the superfamily Papilionoidea, most species of which are nocturnal and can be distinguished from butterflies by feather-like antennae.

Other meanings

  1. Anything that gradually and silently eats, consumes, or wastes any other thing.

  2. A moth bean plant (Vigna aconitifolia).

Kinds of moth

  • hawk moth
  • silkworm moth
  • tent-caterpillar moth

Example sentences

  • “One of the kittens caught a moth.”

    Tatoeba · shekitten · CC0

  • “Only one other species of moth also produces silk fiber.”

    Tatoeba · Cangarejo · CC0

Word history

From Old English "moþþe".

Where this comes from

This definition is adapted from “moth” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.