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What is larva?

larva

 [lahr-vuh]   Origin

lar·va

   [lahr-vuh]
noun, plural -vae  [-vee] .
1.
Entomology. the immature, wingless, feeding stage of an insect that undergoes complete metamorphosis.
2.
any animal in an analogous immature form.
3.
the young of any invertebrate animal.
4.
larvae, Roman Antiquity. malignant ghosts, as lemures.
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Origin:
1645–55; < Neo-Latin; special use of Latin larva a ghost, specter, mask, skeleton; akin to Lares

Can be confused: larva, lava.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Larva is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
larva (ˈlɑːvə)
 
—n , pl -vae
an immature free-living form of many animals that develops into a different adult form by metamorphosis
 
[C18: (C17 in the original Latin sense: ghost): New Latin]
 
'larval
 
—adj

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

larva
1650s, "a ghost, specter," from L. larva (pl. 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
EXPAND
commented on "the well-nigh universal association between masks and the spirits of the dead."
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

larva lar·va (lär'və)
n. pl. lar·vas or lar·vae (-vē)

  1. The newly hatched, wingless, often wormlike form of many insects before metamorphosis.

  2. The newly hatched, earliest stage of any of various animals that undergo metamorphosis, differing markedly in form and appearance from the adult.

lar'val adj.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
larva   (lär'və)  Pronunciation Key 
Plural larvae (lär'vē) or larvas

  1. An animal in an early stage of development that differs greatly in appearance from its adult stage. Larvae are adapted to a different environment and way of life from those of adults and go through a process of metamorphosis in changing to adults. Tadpoles are the larvae of frogs and toads.

  2. The immature, wingless, and usually wormlike feeding form of those insects that undergo three stages of metamorphosis, such as butterflies, moths, and beetles. Insect larvae hatch from eggs, later turn into pupae, and finally turn into adults. Compare imago, nymph, pupa.


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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