1650s, "a ghost, specter," from Latin larva (plural larvae), earlier larua "ghost," also "mask;" applied in biological sense 1768 by Linnaeus because immature forms of insects "mask" the adult forms. On the double sense of the Latin word, Carlo Ginzburg, among other students of mythology and folklore, has commented on "the well-nigh universal association between masks and the spirits of the dead."
实用例句
1. A larva metamorphose into a chrysalis and then into a butterfly.
幼虫变为蛹,然後再变成蝴蝶.
来自《简明英汉词典》
2. The larva hatches out and lives in the soil.
幼虫孵化之后就在土壤里生活.
来自《简明英汉词典》
3. A caterpillar is the larva of a butterfly.
毛虫是蝴蝶的幼体.
来自辞典例句
4. The tadpole is the larva of the frog.
蝌蚪是蛙的幼体.
来自辞典例句
5. Important changes in the embryo or larva will probably entail changes in the mature animal.
