dragonfly

English

A dragonfly (Libellula depressa)

Alternative forms

• dragon-fly

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *derḱ-der.

Proto-Hellenic *dérkomai

Ancient Greek δέρκομαι (dérkomai)

Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn)der.

Latin dracōslbor.

Old French dragonbor.

Middle English dragoun

English dragon

Proto-Indo-European *plew-

Proto-Indo-European *plewk-

Proto-Indo-European *-eti

Proto-Indo-European *pléwketi

Proto-Germanic *fleuganądeverb.

Proto-Germanic *fleugǭ

Proto-West Germanic *fleugā

Old English flēoge

Middle English flye

English fly

English dragonfly

From dragon +‎ fly. Compare drakefly (“mayfly”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɹæɡənˌflaɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

dragonfly (plural dragonflies)

2. An insect of the suborder Epiprocta or, more strictly, the infraorder Anisoptera, having four long transparent wings held perpendicular to a long body when perched.

   Coordinate term: drakefly

   There were two dragonflies in the garden today.

   • 1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum:

     The delicate coloured Dragon Flies may have likewise some Corrosive quality.

   • 1897, Thomas Wright, The Acid Sisters: And Other Poems, page 93:

     The sapphire needled dragonflies
     That flirt with the crested newt!
     And now before his newtly nose, […]

   • 2013 April 1, Natalie Angier, “Nature’s Drone, Pretty and Deadly”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Stacey Combes, who studies the biomechanics of dragonfly flight at Harvard, once watched a laboratory dragonfly eat 30 flies in a row.

   • 2016 June 11, Lizette Alvarez, “In a Corner of the Everglades, a Way of Life Ebbs”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     As the airboat skimmed across the shallow water, scattering blue dragonflies and launching a heron into the air, Keith Price squinted into the sun and relished the isolation of Florida’s unrivaled river of grass.

Synonyms

insect of infraorder Anisoptera

• adderbolt
• battimamselle
• darner
• darning needle
• devil's darning needle
• devil's needle
• dining needle
• ear sewer
• horse-stinger
• mosquito fly
• mosquito hawk
• needle
• skeeter hawk
• snake doctor
• snake feeder
• spindle
• witch doctor

Hypernyms

• odonate
• sewing needle

Translations

insect of the infraorder Anisoptera

• Abkhaz: аӡахы́баа (adzaxə́baa), амаҭхса́ (amatxsá)
• Ahtna: tselcʼutsaey
• Afrikaans: naaldekoker (af)
• Aklanon: tambibidli
• Alabama: hatokwassi
• Albanian: pilivesë (sq)
• Altai:

  Northern Altai: сенъирткеш (senʺirtkeš)

• Antillean Creole: zingzing, zinglèt
• Arabic: يَعْسُوب (ar) m (yaʕsūb)

  Hijazi Arabic: يَعْسُوب m (yaʕsūb)

• Armenian: ճպուռ (hy) (čpuṙ)
• Assamese: জিঞাঁ (zio͂ã) / জিয়াঁ (ziã)
• Asturian: aceitera f, cortanarices m, cortañarices m, caballín del diañu (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: iynəcə
• Bahnar: klo 'ba
• Bajau:

  West Coast Bajau: bari-bari

• Basque: burruntzi
• Belarusian: страказа́ f (strakazá)
• Bengali: ফড়িং (bn) (phoṛiṅ)
• Bikol:

  Central Bikol: alibangbang (bcl), atibagros

• Breton: nadoz-aer (br) f, marc'h-aer (br) m
• Bulgarian: во́дно ко́нче n (vódno kónče)
• Burmese: ပုစဉ်း (my) (pu.cany:)
• Catalan: libèl·lula (ca) f, cavall de serp (ca) m, espiadimonis (ca) m, tallanassos m, teixidor (ca) m, barratgina f.
• Cebuano: alindanaw, handanaw, helikopter
• Cham:

  Eastern Cham: ꨈꨮꩌ ꨈꨮꩊ (gơm gơl)

• Chechen: шайтӏанан дин (šajtʼanan din)
• Chepang: दुय्‌ला
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 蜻蜓 (cing¹ ting⁴)

  Hakka: 揚尾仔 / 扬尾仔 (yòng-mî-é)

  Hokkien: 田嬰 / 田婴 (zh-min-nan) (chhân-eⁿ, chhân-iⁿ, chhân-ni, chhân-ne, iân-mi)

  Mandarin: 蜻蜓 (zh) (qīngtíng), 丁丁貓兒 / 丁丁猫儿 (zh) (díngdíngmáor) (Southwestern)

• Czech: vážka (cs) f
• Danish: guldsmed c
• Dhuwal: ḏikarr
• Drung: nvmzer tvma
• Dutch: libel (nl) f
• Dzongkha: གནམ་གྲུ་འབུཔ (gnam gru 'bup)
• Erzya: салмуксонь салы (salmuksoń salï)
• Esperanto: libelo (eo)
• Estonian: kiil (et)
• Faroese: gullsmiður m, drekafluga f
• Finnish: sudenkorento
• French: libellule (fr) f
• Galician: cabalo do demo (gl) m, libélula (gl) f
• Georgian: ჭრიჭინა (ka) (č̣rič̣ina), ნემსიყლაპია (nemsiq̇laṗia)
• German: Libelle (de) f; Wasserjungfer f (dated)

  Alemannic German: Gufeschisser m

• Greek: λιβελλούλη f (livelloúli), λιβελούλα (el) f (liveloúla)
• Guarani:

  Paraguayan Guarani: ^{(please verify)} ñahatĩ

• Hawaiian: pīnao
• Hebrew: שַׁפִּירִית (he) f (shapirit)
• Hiligaynon: tumbak-tumbak
• Hindi: व्याध पतंग (vyādh pataṅg)
• Hungarian: szitakötő (hu)
• Icelandic: drekafluga (is) f, slenja (is) f
• Ido: libelulo (io)
• Ilocano: billobillo
• Indonesian: capung (id)
• Ingrian: suenkorenta, suenkorento
• Irish: snáthaid mhór f
• Italian: libellula (it) f
• Japanese: 蜻蛉 (ja) (とんぼ, tonbo), トンボ (ja) (tonbo)
• Jeju: 밥주리 (bapjuri)
• Kalagan: antotobig
• Kalinga:

  Lubuagan Kalinga: belliling

• Kalmyk: темәлҗрһн (temäljrğn)
• Kanakanabu: tamcurunga
• Kankanaey: wawwao, lallao, ayyoyogan, kalkaltongan
• Kapampangan: tulang
• Karen:

  S'gaw Karen: ကွဲၢ်မိၢ်ဘီ (kweẖ moẖ baw), ကွဲၢ်လဲၢ်ဘီ (kweẖ leẖ baw)

• Kavalan: putit
• Kazakh: инелік (inelık)
• Khmer: កន្ទុំរុយ (km) (kɑntum ruy)
• Khowar: غیچودیاک (ġečodyák)
• Klamath-Modoc: qoqdinks
• Koasati: hachootiniili
• Komi:

  Komi-Zyrian: юрси гусь (jurśi guś)

• Korean: 잠자리 (ko) (jamjari)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: zencere (ku)

• Kyrgyz: ийнелик (ky) (iynelik)
• Lao: ປໍ (pǭ), ແມງປໍ (mǣng pǭ)
• Latgalian: spuorņs m
• Latin: libellula (la) f
• Latvian: spāre f
• Lithuanian: laumžirgis (lt) m, žirgelis m, (some species) skėtė f, (some species) strėlikė f
• Lower Tanana: tthedlek'o'
• Luxembourgish: Libell (lb) f
• Macedonian: вилино коњче n (vilino konjče)
• Malagasy: angidina (mg)
• Malay: capung, pepatung
• Malayalam: തുമ്പി (ml) (tumpi), കല്ലൻതുമ്പി (kallaṉtumpi)
• Maltese: debba tax-xitan f, ħelikopter, mazzarell m
• Mansaka: sagumbabarit
• Māori: kapowai, kapowai, uruururoroa, kapowai
• Marshallese: boub
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: соно (mn) (sono)

  Mongolian script: ᠰᠣᠨᠤ (sonu)

• Nahuatl:

  Mecayapan Nahuatl: tzoncalhuihuitani (Mecayapan), a̱tzóncal (Tatahuicapan)

  Northern Puebla Nahuatl: sayolatl, isayol in atl, icahuayo in ahmo cuali tlacatl

• Navajo: tániilʼáí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: øyenstikker (no) m, øyestikker m

  Nynorsk: augestikkar m, augnestikkar m

• Nuosu: ꊴ (cie)
• Ojibwe: oboodashkwaanishiinh
• Pacoh: tang tuiq
• Palauan: chemaiong
• Persian: سنجاقک (fa) (sanjâqak), سوزنک (fa) sg (suzanak), بمبیرک sg (bambirak)
• Polish: ważka (pl) f
• Portuguese: libélula (pt) f, lavadeira (pt) f
• Romanian: libelulă (ro) f
• Russian: стрекоза́ (ru) f (strekozá)
• Sami:

  Skolt Sami: čuõškkvuâppai

• Sanskrit: प्राचिका (sa) (prācikā), प्राचिका (sa) (prācikā)
• Scottish Gaelic: tarbh-nathrach (gd) m, tarbhan-nathrach (gd) m, cuileag-lasrach (gd) f
• Sedang: xing xông
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: вилин коњиц m, вилински коњиц m

  Latin: vilin konjic (sh) m, vilinski konjic (sh) m

• Shor: сур
• Slovak: vážka (sk) f
• Slovene: kačji pastir (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: libela m, bogowy kónik m

• Spanish: libélula (es) f, aguacil (es) m (Argentina, Uruguay), pipilacha f (Nicaragua)
• Swedish: trollslända (sv)
• Tagalog: tutubi
• Tajik: сӯзанак (süzanak)
• Tamil: தும்பி (ta) (tumpi), தட்டான் (ta) (taṭṭāṉ)
• Tatar: энә карагы (enä qarağı)
• Telugu: తూనీగ (te) (tūnīga)
• Thai: แมลงปอ (th) (má-lɛɛng-bpɔɔ)
• Turkish: kızböceği (tr), yusufçuk (tr), helikopter böceği, çamcarı, dambıra

  Ottoman Turkish: یوسفجك (yusufcuk)

• Turkmen: teneçir
• Ukrainian: стрекоза́ f (strekozá), ва́жка (uk) f (vážka), ба́бка (uk) f (bábka)
• Unami: wehùpòktis
• Uzbek: ninachi (uz), soʻzanak (uz)
• Vietnamese: chuồn chuồn (vi)
• Volapük: libelul
• Waray-Waray: tambuburay
• Welsh: gwas y neidr m
• Wolof: xund-xund
• Yoruba: lámilámi
• Zapotec:

  Isthmus Zapotec: sumpirinisa, xhumpirinisa

• Zulu: uzekamanzi (zu) class 1a/2a

See also

• Anisoptera
• damselfly
• Odonata

extant orders of insects in English

• jumping bristletails, archaeognathans (Archaeognatha)
• cockroaches and termites, blattodeans (Blattodea)
• beetles, coleopterans (Coleoptera)
• earwigs, dermapterans (Dermaptera)
• flies, dipterans (Diptera)
• webspinners, embiopterans (Embioptera)
• mayflies, ephemeropterans (Ephemeroptera)
• ice crawlers, grylloblattodeans (Grylloblattodea)
• true bugs, hemipterans (Hemiptera)
• hymenopterans (ants, bees, wasps, etc.) (Hymenoptera)
• butterflies and moths, lepidopterans (Lepidoptera)
• mantises, mantodeans (Mantodea)
• mantophasmids (Mantophasmatodea)
• scorpionflies, mecopterans (Mecoptera)
• megalopterans (alderflies, dobsonflies, fishflies, etc.) (Megaloptera)
• neuropterans (antlions, lacewings, mantisflies, etc.) (Neuroptera)
• damselflies and dragonflies, odonatans (Odonata)
• orthopterans (crickets, grasshoppers, katydids, etc.) (Orthoptera)
• stick insects, phasmatodeans (Phasmatodea)
• stoneflies, plecopterans (Plecoptera)
• booklice, psocodeans (Psocodea)
• snakeflies, raphidiopterans (Raphidioptera)
• fleas, siphonapterans (Siphonaptera)
• strepsipterans (Strepsiptera)
• thrips, thysanopterans (Thysanoptera)
• caddis flies, trichopterans (Trichoptera)
• zorapterans (Zoraptera)
• silverfish, zygentomans (Zygentoma)