A chrysalis is the hard case a butterfly forms inside before emerging. Hanging chrysalis, emerge from the chrysalis, an empty chrysalis.
It is the butterfly's own hardened skin rather than something spun, which is the difference from a moth's silk cocoon. Inside, most of the caterpillar dissolves and rebuilds, and the Greek name means golden.
1nounchrysalisThe hard case a butterfly forms inside before emerging.
“After two weeks, a beautiful butterfly broke out of the chrysalis.”
chrysalis is a case.
Greek chrysallis comes from chrysos, gold, from the metallic sheen of some pupae.
Ancient Greek
χρυσαλλίς
Latin
chrysalis
English, today
chrysalis
Built from
From Latin chrysalis, variant of chrȳsallis, from Ancient Greek χρυσαλλίς, usually derived from χρυσός (“gold, golden”) + -αλλ- + -ις (“-id: forming feminine nouns”) but compare θρυαλλίς and ἀρυβαλλίς, both believed to come from a qsb-grc - substrate on the basis of their unusual endings.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA