Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: MOTHS |
MOTHSPlural1. Of Moth |
Date "MOTHS" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Health | Insects of the suborder Heterocera of the order Lepidoptera. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly. Both are of the order Lepidoptera. People who study or collect these insects are called lepidopterists. Moths are generally considered nocturnal, but there are crepuscular and day-flying species. They can be distinguished from butterflies in several ways.
Moths as pests
Moths are commonly regarded as pests because the larvae of a few species eat fabric such as clothes and blankets. These can be repelled by the scent of cedar or naphthalene (the chemical used in mothballs).Others may have caterpillars which are agricultural pests, such as the Codling Moth.
Attraction to light
Moths are notable for apparently being attracted to light, or more specifically, are known to circle ambient objects. The reason for this behaviour is not known. Moths do not fly directly away from the light due to a visual distortion called a Mach band. One researcher, Henry Hsiao, has conjectured that moths, as nocturnal creatures, fly towards the darkest part of the sky in pursuit of safety. Moths are thus inclined to circle ambient objects in the Mach band region, usually at a radius of about one foot, depending on the species.Night blooming flowers usually depend on moths (or bats) for pollination, and artificial lighting can draw moths away from the flowers, impacting the plant's ability to reproduce. Light pollution is coming under increasing scrutiny as a source of many subtle ecological changes.
Moth species
Moth species include:
- Luna Moth Actias luna
- Gypsy Moth Lymantria dispar
- Cotton bollworm or corn earworm a major agricultural pest
- Red Underwing Catocala nupta
- Salt Marsh Moth Estigmene acrea: Life cycle photos
- The silkworm Bombyx mori is the larva of a moth.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Moth."
Crosswords: MOTHS |
| Etymologies containing "MOTHS": Mothen. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Last time was moths. (A Shot in the Dark; writing credit: Marcel Achard; William Peter Blatty) Yes, I did complain about moths. (A Shot in the Dark; writing credit: Marcel Achard; William Peter Blatty) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Gypsy Moths (1969) Moths (1922) Heedless Moths (1921) Moths (1913) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Readying for nighttime surveillance of migrating moths, agricultural engineer Wayne Wolf (left) adjusts a radar dish. When initial moth flight is detected, meteorologist Ritchie Eyster will launch a constant-altitude tetroon. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Jack Dykinga.. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "KP 29" by Lucien Aréstegüi Commentary: "Hiding from thousands of moths in the air in a tight canyon in northen AZ." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | And the light hissed, and a halo of moths swung around and around the lantern |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "MOTHS" is generally used as a noun (plural) -- approximately 94.62% of the time. "MOTHS" is used about 260 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (plural) | 94.62% | 246 | 19,009 |
| Noun (proper) | 5.38% | 14 | 93,893 |
| Total | 100.00% | 260 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "MOTHS": hawk moths ( celerio lineata. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "MOTHS": hawk-moths, Motor-moths, night-moths. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
moths | 757 | lawn moths | 13 |
the gypsy moths | 76 | moths type | 12 |
butterfly and moths | 63 | meal moths | 11 |
miller moths | 43 | house moths | 10 |
picture of moths | 37 | food moths | 10 |
get rid of moths | 30 | giant moths | 10 |
luna moths | 30 | moths sphinx | 9 |
bird humming moths | 26 | north american moths | 9 |
eat moths | 21 | killing moths | 9 |
pantry moths | 21 | cecropia moths | 9 |
kill moths | 20 | moths peppered | 8 |
clothes moths | 20 | insect moths | 7 |
large moths | 20 | florida moths | 7 |
rid of moths | 20 | michigan moths | 7 |
lunar moths | 18 | cloth moths | 7 |
america moths north | 15 | clothing moths | 7 |
grain moths | 14 | kitchen moths | 7 |
moths uk | 14 | flour moths | 7 |
indian meal moths | 14 | identifying moths | 7 |
moths photo | 13 | british moths | 7 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "MOTHS"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Chinese | 飞蛾 (moth). (various references) | |
Danish | aftensværmere (hawk moths ( celerio lineata, hippotion celerio, pergesa elpenor, phobus achemon ( U. S. A. )), aeblespindemoel (apple and cherry ermine moths, small ermine moth). (various references) | |
Dutch | wijnstokpijlstaart (hawk moths ( celerio lineata, hippotion celerio, pergesa elpenor, phobus achemon ( U. S. A. )), gestreepte pijlstaart (hawk moths ( celerio lineata, hippotion celerio, pergesa elpenor, phobus achemon ( U. S. A. )), appelspinselmot (apple and cherry ermine moths, small ermine moth). (various references) | |
Finnish | omenankehrääjäkoi (apple and cherry ermine moths, small ermine moth). (various references) | |
French | sphinx (hawk moths ( celerio lineata), hyponomeute du pommier (apple and cherry ermine moths, small ermine moth), hyponomeute (apple and cherry ermine moths, small ermine moth), chenille fileuse du pommier (apple and cherry ermine moths, small ermine moth). (various references) | |
German | Motten (mothes). (various references) | |
Greek | PHOBUS ACHEMON (hawk moths ( celerio lineata, hippotion celerio, pergesa elpenor, phobus achemon ( U. S. A. )), PERGESA ELPENOR (hawk moths ( celerio lineata, hippotion celerio, pergesa elpenor, phobus achemon ( U. S. A. )), υπονομευτής της μηλιάς (apple and cherry ermine moths, small ermine moth), HIPPOTION CELERIO (hawk moths ( celerio lineata, hippotion celerio, pergesa elpenor, phobus achemon ( U. S. A. )), CELERIO LINEATA (hawk moths ( celerio lineata, hippotion celerio, pergesa elpenor, phobus achemon ( U. S. A. )). (various references) | |
Italian | tarma (bookworm, moth). (various references) | |
Korean | 나방 (moth). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | othsmay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | tiagene das macieiras (apple and cherry ermine moths, small ermine moth), teia das macieiras (apple and cherry ermine moths, small ermine moth), esfinge (sphinx), coca (coca). (various references) | |
Spanish | tina (tub, vat), polilla del manzano (apple and cherry ermine moths, small ermine moth), oruga hilandero palomilla del manzano (apple and cherry ermine moths, small ermine moth), hiponomeuta del manzano (apple and cherry ermine moths, small ermine moth), esfinge (sphinx), arañuela del manzano (apple and cherry ermine moths, small ermine moth). (various references) | |
Swedish | äpplespinnmal (apple and cherry ermine moths, small ermine moth). (various references) | |
Turkish | pulkanatlılar (lepidoptera). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | Hyponomeuta malinella, Hyponomeuta malinellus, Hyponomeuta malineus, Hyponomeuta padellus malinellus, Yponomeuta malinella, Yponomeuta variabilis. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words ending with "MOTHS": behemoths, hawkmoths, mammoths. (additional references) | |
| |
"MOTHS" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: mahts, meiths, meths, Mithl, mogh, Mohd, mohs, mooth, mooths, Motha, mothe, mothy, motis, motos, motph, mots, motts, mtos, mutha, muthe, muthos, mutht, omdh, omth. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "MOTHS" (pronounced mô"ths) |
| 3 | -ô" th s | broths, cloths, froths. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "h-m-o-s-t" | |
-1 letter: host, hots, mhos, mosh, most, moth, mots, ohms, shmo, shot, soth, toms, tosh. | |
-2 letters: hot, mho, mos, mot, ohm, ohs, oms, som, sot, tho, tom. | |
-3 letters: hm, ho, mo, oh, om, os, sh, so, to. | |
| Words containing the letters "h-m-o-s-t" | |
+1 letter: months, mouths, mythos, smooth. | |
+2 letters: fathoms, homiest, mahouts, matzohs, methods, mothers, mugshot, smooths, smoothy, smother, stomach, thermos, thymols. | |
+3 letters: apothems, besmooth, ethmoids, headmost, helotism, hemostat, hindmost, homesite, homestay, homilist, humorist, isotherm, isthmoid, lothsome, mammoths, manihots, menthols, misthrow, mistouch, mitsvoth, moonshot, moschate, mothiest, mouthers, mugshots, oghamist, outshame, phantoms, resmooth, shkotzim, showtime, smoothed, smoothen, smoother, smoothes, smoothie, smoothly, smothers, smothery, somewhat, stomachs, stomachy, teraohms, theorems, thoriums, thrombus, thymosin. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
