Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Larva

Definition: Larva

Larva

Noun

1. The immature free-living form of most invertebrates and amphibians and fish which at hatching from the egg is fundamentally unlike its parent and must metamorphose.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "larva" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1550. (references)

Etymology: Larva \Lar"va\, noun; plural Latin Larv[ae], English Larvas. [Latin expression larva ghost, specter, mask.]. (Websters 1913)



Specialty Definitions: Larva

DomainDefinitions

Biology & Biotechnology

The immature, wingless and wormlike form in which mosquitoes hatch from eggs, and in which they remain with increase in size and other minor changes until they assume the pupa stage ; specifically, the larval form of certain higher(e. g. scarab)beetles; often applied indiscriminately to all larval forms of beetles in general, plus larvae of other insects that are grub-like. Source: European Union. (references)

Food & Agriculture

A)the immature form of insects that undergo metamorphosis; b)in insect larva in orders that undergo complete metamorphosis, an immature insect hatching from the egg an up to the pupal stage. Source: European Union. (references)

Health

Wormlike or grublike stage, following the egg in the life cycle of insects, worms, and other metamorphosing animals. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Larva

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

A larva (Latin; plural larvae) is a juvenile from of animal with indirect development, undergoing metamorphosis (for example, insects or frogs) . The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly. Larvae also often have special (larval) organs which do not occur in the adult form. The larvae of some species can become pubescent without actually developing into the adult form (for example, in some newts). This is called neoteny.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Larva."

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Abbreviations & Acronyms: Larva

The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted.

EntrySourceExpressionField

larva

EnglishLow altitude research vehicleMilitary & Defense

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Synonyms within Context: Larva

ContextSynonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).

Infant

Child, bairn, little one, brat, chit, pickaninny, urchin; bantling, bratling; elf. youth, boy, lad, stripling, youngster, youngun, younker, callant, whipster, whippersnapper, whiffet, schoolboy, hobbledehoy, hopeful, cadet, minor, master. scion; sap, seedling; tendril, olive branch, nestling, chicken, larva, chrysalis, tadpole, whelp, cub, pullet, fry, callow; codlin,codling; foetus, calf, colt, pup, foal, kitten; lamb, lambkin; aurelia, caterpillar, cocoon, nymph, nympha, orphan, pupa, staddle.

Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Larva

English words defined with "larva": Loeven's larvaRat-tailed larva. (references)
Specialty definitions using "larva": Broekmancasemoth, creeping eruption, creeping featurism, cutaneous larva migransegg-larvafirst-instar larvagreater wax mothinsect holeLarva Migransneedle holeTenebrio, Toxascaris, Toxocara canis, Toxocariasis, Trombiculid MitesVisceral Larva Migrans. (references)
Etymologies containing "larva": larval, Larvate, Larvated. (references)
Non-English Usage: "Larva" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

Czech (grub, larva, maggot), Italian (grub, larva, maggot), Latin (ghost, phantom), Papiamen (grub, larva), Portuguese (grub, larva, maggot, worm, wriggler), Serbo-Croatian (case worm, grub, larva, maggot), Spanish (grub, larva, maggot), Swedish (behave flippantly, tramp), Turkish (larva, larval).

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Modern Usage: Larva

DomainUsage

Screenplays

I read about a man who won all new wall-to-wall carpetin' that contained the teeniest unidentified larva that eventually caused him to paste a 26-foot tapeworm from his body. (Filthy Rich; writing credit: Barry E. Blitzer; Linda Bloodworth-Thomason)

Ungrateful little yuppie larva. (Ghostbusters II; writing credit: Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis.)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Larva

DomainTitle

Books

  • Incidents from a Shelter: The Season of the Larva (reference)

  • Larva Legis Aquiliae: The Mask of the Aquilia Torn Off the Action for Damage Done: A Legal Treatise by Christian Thomasius (1655-1728) (reference)

  • Palabras para Larva (reference)

  • Persona, Larva, Maske : ikonologische Studien zum 16. bis frèuhen 18. Jahrhundert (reference)

  • Poundemonium : larva (reference)

    (more book examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Larva

Photos:
Larva

More images...

Illustrations:
Larva

More images...

Computer Images:
Larva

More images...

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Photo Album: Larva

ThumbnailDescription & CreditThumbnailDescription & Credit

There are four growth stages, or instars, in the development of the Culex mosquito larva. "Instar" is a term used to designate a stage in the metamorphosis experienced by insect nymphs or larvae.Credit: CDC.

The important identifying characteristics of a Wyeomyia mosquito larva are that it lacks the median ventral brush and it has comb scales.Credit: CDC.

First instar larva of Cuterebra, a genus of botfly. Fly, parasite.Credit: CDC.

Tip of tail, hookworm filariform larva. Roundworm, nematode, parasite.Credit: CDC.

Strongyloides filariform larva. Roundworm, nematode, parasite.Credit: CDC.

Rhabditiform larva of hookworm. Parasite.Credit: CDC.

A female Catolaccus grandis wasp homes in on a boll weevil larva. This 3/8 inch parasitic wasp, a native of Mexico, inserts her ovipositor through the plastic film covering the individual rearing cell and immobilizes the larva. P.Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer..

Biological technician Eleazar Moreno artificially infects a mango with a fruit fly larva in one of the controlled atmosphere (CA) tests.Credit: USDA ARS News.

A green lacewing larva dines on whitefly nymphs. P.Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Jack Dykinga..

Bark Beetle larva and a dime.Credit: Tim Haller.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Use in Literature: Larva

TitleAuthorQuote

Walden

Thoreau, Henry David

The abdomen under the wings of the butterfly stir represents the larva.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Larva

SubjectTopicQuote

Health

Kazacos KR. Visceral and ocular larva migrans. (references)

This is referred to as a creeping eruption or cutaneous larva migrans. (references)

Urban growth has eliminated natural standing water areas necessary for the larva to develop, such as marshes. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Larva

"Larva" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.40% of the time. "Larva" is used about 125 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 SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Noun (singular)98.4%12328,925
Noun (proper)1.6%2245,945
                    Total100.00%125N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expressions: Larva

Expressions using "larva": cutaneous larva migrans Larva Migrans Loeven's larva Visceral Larva Migrans. Additional references.

Hypenated Usage

Ending with "larva": egg-larva.

Containing "larva": egg-larva-pupa-adult.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Larva

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.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day

larva

112

mosquito larva

106

butterfly larva

31

dragonfly larva

29

fly larva

22

bug lady larva

20

larva migrans

19

larva moth

18

insect larva

17

termite larva

17

larva mothra

15

flea larva

14

beetle larva

12

larva mosquito picture

12

mosquito control larva

11

larva picture

10

kill mosquito larva

9

larva sawfly

8

caddisfly larva

8

midge larva

7
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Larva

Language Translations for "larva"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Albanian

  

larvë (caterpillar, maggot), vemje (caterpillar, grub, maggot). (various references)

   

Arabic 

  

‏يرقة (maggot), ‏يرقانة (slug). (various references)

   

Bulgarian 

  

ларва (grub). (various references)

   

Chinese 

  

(fluorine), (grub), (maggot), 幼蟲 , 幼虫 (GRUB, grubs, Larvae, larval, Larvas). (various references)

   

Czech

  

larva (grub, maggot). (various references)

   

Danish

  

larve. (various references)

   

Dutch

  

larve (grub, larvae). (various references)

   

Esperanto

  

larvo (grub). (various references)

   

Faeroese

  

ormvera (caterpillar, grub), ormur (grub, serpent, snake, worm). (various references)

   

Farsi 

  

حشره کش (Insecticide), دافع کرم حشره . (various references)

   

Finnish

  

toukka (caterpillar, grub, immature fly, larvae, maggot). (various references)

   

French

  

larve (larvae). (various references)

   

German

  

Larve (grub, larvae, mask). (various references)

   

Greek 

  

κάμπια (caterpillar, grub, wire worm), προνύμφη (callow adult, grub, larva of bees, larvae, teneral adult). (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

זחל (caterpillar, caterpillar track, grub, maggot, track), 'ולם (awkward person, boor, clod, dummy, embryo, ignoramus, lubber, lummox, lunkhead, oaf, pupa, robot). (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

lárva (grub, larvae, pupa). (various references)

   

Indonesian

  

jentik-jentik. (various references)

   

Italian

  

larva (grub, larvae, maggot). (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

幼虫 (chrysalis), 幼" (larvae), "虫 . (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

しちゅう (brace, fatal situation, fulcrum, in the city, prop), ようせい (application, claim, demand, development, elf, fairy, larvae, positivity, premature death, request, sprite, training), ようちゅう (chrysalis, pupa). (various references)

   

Korean 

  

(Larvae, Larvas). (various references)

   

Manx

  

laarvey. (various references)

   

Papiamen

  

larva (grub). (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

arvalay

   

Portuguese

  

larva (grub, larvae, maggot, worm, wriggler). (various references)

   

Romanian

  

larvã (grub, maggot). (various references)

   

Russian 

  

личинка (grub, maggot, slug). (various references)

   

Serbo-Croatian

  

larva (case worm, grub, maggot). (various references)

   

Spanish

  

larva (grub, larvae, maggot). (various references)

   

Swedish

  

larv (catepillar, caterpillar, grub, larva of bees, larvae, nonsense, rubbish). (various references)

   

Thai

  

ตัวอ่อนของสัตว์. (various references)

   

Turkish

  

larva (larval), tırtıl (caterpillar, grub, knurl, miling, serration), kurtçuk (grub, maggot, worm, wriggler). (various references)

   

Ukranian 

  

личинка (grub, maggot, nymph, slug), пуголовк. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Larva

LanguagePeriodTranslations
Latin500 BCE-Modern

uterus, vermiculatas, vermiculo, vermiculum, vermiculumque, vermiculus. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Larva

Derivations

Words beginning with "larva": larvae, larval, larvas. (additional references)


Misspellings

"Larva" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Arva, Arvac, Avra, Jarva, klukva, laaria, laevi, laevo, lara, larah, larav, larga, laria, Larra, larsa, Larua, larv, larvea, lavam, lavan, lavar, lavat, lavay, lavia, lavo, lavoa, lavra, lbarra, leiravay, lerv, leurve, Litva, Litvak, Lovro, Luarca, Lurrve, lurv, lurve, lwra, Sarva, ulmarua. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Larva"

Words rhyming with "larva" (pronounced 'Lar"va'): Comitiva, Conferva, Conjunctiva, Contrayerva, Diva, guava, Java, Kiva, LAVA, Minerva, Nova, Oliva, Saiva, saliva, Saxicava, Sieva, silva, Siva, Ulva, Urva, Uva, Viva, Volva, Vulva. (additional references)

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Anagrams: Larva

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: arval.

Words within the letters "a-a-l-r-v"

-1 letter: alar, lava, vara.

-2 letters: aal, ala, ava, lar, lav, var.

-3 letters: aa, al, ar, la.

 Words containing the letters "a-a-l-r-v"
 

+1 letter: larvae, larval, larvas, valvar.

 

+2 letters: arrival, calvary, caravel, cavalry, gravlax, ovarial, palaver, reavail, travail, variola, velaria.

 

+3 letters: alveolar, anovular, approval, archival, arrivals, avicular, calvaria, caravels, carnival, cavalero, cavalier, gravlaks, lavalier, lavatory, palavers, precaval, reavails, salivary, salvager, travails, vacuolar, valerate, valerian, valuator, valvular, variable, variably, varietal, variolar, variolas, vascular, vicarial.

 

+4 letters: adverbial, alveolars, antiviral, approvals, avascular, averagely, avuncular, calvarias, calvaries, calvarium, carnivals, carvacrol, cavaleros, cavaliers, cavalries, evaluator, favorable, favorably, lavaliere, lavaliers, navicular, palavered, palsgrave, reavailed, revaluate, salivator, salvagers, salvarsan, travailed, traversal, vagrantly, valerates, valerians, valuators, variables, varicella, varietals, verapamil, vocabular, vulgarian.

 

+5 letters: aardwolves, abrasively, adenoviral, adverbials, alleviator, alveolarly, approvable, approvably, behavioral, calvariums, carvacrols, cavaliered, cavalierly, cavalryman, cavalrymen, clavicular, evaluators, galvanizer, intravital, invariable, invariably, labiovelar, lacerative, larvicidal, lavalieres, lavalliere, lavatories, margravial, naviculars, palavering, palsgraves, quadrivial, reavailing, reevaluate, revalidate, revaluated, revaluates, revealable, salivators, salvarsans, slavocracy, supravital, transvalue, travailing, traversals, ultraheavy, ultravacua, vacillator, vallecular, varicellas, verapamils, vernacular, vocabulary, vulgarians.

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.

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Alternative Orthography: Larva


Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

4C 61 72 76 61

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)

=

Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)

Braille (1829, in France) (references)

Morse Code (1836) (references)

.-..    .-    .-.    ...-    .-

Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01001100 01100001 01110010 01110110 01100001

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#76 &#97 &#114 &#118 &#97

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

004C 0061 0072 0076 0061

British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

4667848867

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INDEX

1. Definition
2. Crosswords
3. Usage: Modern
4. Usage: Commercial
5. Images: Slideshow
6. Images: Photo Album
7. Quotations: Fiction
8. Quotations: Non-fiction
9. Usage Frequency
10. Expressions
11. Expressions: Internet
12. Translations: Modern
13. Translations: Ancient
14. Abbreviations
15. Acronyms
16. Derivations
17. Rhymes
18. Anagrams
19. Orthography
20. Bibliography


  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.