ladybird

See also: lady-bird

English

A ladybird.

Alternative forms

• lady-bird

Etymology

From lady +‎ bird, the “lady” here referring to the Virgin Mary, Jesus’ mother. Compare German Marienkäfer (literally “Mary beetle/bug”). Also compare damselfly.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈleɪ.di.bəːd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈleɪ.di.bɝd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

ladybird (plural ladybirds)

2. Any of the Coccinellidae family of beetles, typically having a round shape and red or yellow spotted elytra.

   Synonyms: (North America) ladybug, (preferred by some scientists) lady beetle, (obsolete, Britain) ladycow, (obsolete, Britain) lady fly, (archaic, dialectal UK) bishy barnabee

   • 1914, Entomological Society of America, Annals of the Entomological Society of America, Volume 7, page 81,

     During this time, they eat about 825 Toxoptera per ladybird, making an average of about twenty-five per day to each ladybird.

   • 1927, Hamilton Wright Mabie, Edward Everett Hale, and William Byron Forbush (editors), Childhood′s Favorites and Fairy Stories: The Young Folks Treasury, Volume 1, Gutenberg eBook #19993,

     Lady-bird, lady-bird, fly away home, / Thy house is on fire, thy children all gone: / All but one whose name is Ann, / And she crept under the pudding-pan.

   • 1976 September 30, Denis Owen, Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home, New Scientist, page 686,

     Ladybirds, unlike most beetles, enjoy considerable popularity: they are attractive to look at and are well-known as useful predators of aphids—the greenfly and blackfly that destroy garden plants and crops.

   • 2008, John L. Capinera, Encyclopedia of Entomology, Springer-Verlag New York, 2nd Edition, page 2130,

     Perhaps it was a sense of lack of effectiveness of native ladybirds in rapid and complete control of aphid infestations that led to attempts to import additional aphid-feeding ladybird species into North America.

Usage notes

The term ladybird is used in British English, while the alternative ladybug is common in the US and Canada.

Derived terms

• harlequin ladybird
• ladybird beetle
• ladybird spider
• large leaf-eating ladybird
• yellow-shouldered ladybird

 

Translations

member of Coccinellidae

• Afrikaans: liewenheersbesie, skilpadbesie, skilpadkewer
• Albanian: mollëkuqe (sq), burbuqe (sq), nuse pashke f, buburezë (sq) f, buburizë (sq) f, shtatpikaloshe f, pikaloshe f
• Arabic: دُعْسُوقَة f (duʕsūqa)

  Gulf Arabic: اُم عَلِي f

  Hijazi Arabic: دعسوقة f (daʕsūqa)

• Aramaic:

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܒܵܛܝܼܒܵܛܘܿ (bāṭībāṭō)

• Armenian: զատիկ (hy) (zatik)
• Azerbaijani:

  Abjad: ملا قوشى (mollā-qūshi)

  Roman: parabüzən, xallı bəzək, xanımböcəyi, mollaquşu, uçağan (dialectal), papıştikən (dialectal)

• Basque: marigorringo (eu)
• Belarusian: каро́ўка-баго́ўка f (karóŭka-bahóŭka)
• Breton: buoc'hig-Doue (br) f
• Bulgarian: кали́нка (bg) f (kalínka), кали́нка-мали́нка f (kalínka-malínka), божа́ кра́вичка f (božá krávička)
• Catalan: marieta (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 瓢蟲／瓢虫 (piu⁴ cung⁴)

  Mandarin: 瓢蟲／瓢虫 (zh) (piáochóng)

• Chuvash: уяр (ujar)
• Cornish: bughik Dhuw f
• Crimean Tatar: sırlı böcek
• Czech: slunéčko (cs) n, sluníčko (cs) n, beruška (cs) f (colloquial)
• Danish: mariehøne (da) c
• Dutch: lieveheersbeestje (nl) n
• Esperanto: kokcinelo, mariskarabo
• Estonian: lepatriinu (et)
• Finnish: leppäkerttu (fi), leppäpirkko (fi)
• French: coccinelle (fr) f
• Galician: xoaniña (gl) f, papasol m, reirrei m, maruxiña f, voaniña f, costureiriña f
• Georgian: ჭიამაია (č̣iamaia)
• German: Marienkäfer (de) m

  Alemannic German: Mariiechääferli n

• Greek: πασχαλίτσα (el) f (paschalítsa)
• Greenlandic: aamanganiaq
• Hebrew: מושית f (moshít), פָּרַת מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּנוּ (he) f (parát moshé rabénu)
• Hindi: सोनपाखरा (sonpākhrā), सोनपंखी (sonpaṅkhī), सुररखी (surarkhī)
• Hungarian: katicabogár (hu)
• Icelandic: maríuhæna (is) f, maríubjalla (is) f
• Indonesian: kepik (id)
• Ingrian: jumalanlehmä
• Interlingua: coccinella
• Irish: bóín Dé (ga) f, bó shamhraidh f, bóín samhraidh f
• Italian: coccinella (it) f
• Japanese: テントウムシ (ja) (tentōmushi), 天道虫 (ja) (てんとうむし, tentōmushi)
• Kabuverdianu: juaninha
• Khmer: អណ្ដើកមាស (ɑndaǝk mieh)
• Korean: 무당벌레 (ko) (mudangbeolle)
• Ladin: chëifer dla Madona m
• Latvian: mārīte f
• Lithuanian: boružė f
• Low German:

  German Low German: Sünnenküken

• Luxembourgish: Himmelsdéierchen (lb) n
• Macedonian: бубамара f (bubamara), божа кравица f (boža kravica)
• Malay: kumbang (ms)
• Maltese: nannakola f
• Maori: mumutawa, ngoikura
• Navajo: chʼosh łitsxooí
• Norman: paqu'nôte f
• North Frisian: goodshenk
• Norwegian: marifly, marihøne (no)
• Ottoman Turkish: قفتان بوجكی (kaftan böceği), خانم بوجكی (xanum böjeyi)
• Persian: کفشدوزک (fa) (kafšduzak)
• Plautdietsch: Howapieetje n
• Polish: biedronka (pl) f, boża krówka (pl) f
• Portuguese: joaninha (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਬੀਰ ਵਹੁਟੀ f (bīr vahuṭī)
• Romanian: buburuză (ro) f, gărgăriță (ro) f, mămăruță (ro) f
• Romansch: bau da Nossadunna m
• Russian: бо́жья коро́вка (ru) f (bóžʹja koróvka)
• Scottish Gaelic: daolag bhreac dhearg f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бубамара f

  Roman: bubamara (sh) f

• Sicilian: papuzzedda f
• Slovak: lienka f, pánbožkova kravička f
• Slovene: pikapolonica (sl) f
• Spanish: mariquita (es) f, catarinita f (Mexico), chinita (es) f (Chile), San Antonio (es) m (Uruguay), sarantontón f (Canary Islands), vaquita de San Antonio f (Argentina), santanita f, sananica f (Spain)
• Swedish: nyckelpiga (sv)
• Tagalog: marikita
• Thai: แมลงเต่าทอง (má-laeng dtào tɔɔng), เต่าทอง (th) (dtào tɔɔng)
• Turkish: uğur böceği (tr)
• Turkmen: kekene (tk)
• Tuvan: бичии доос-кара (biçii doos-kara)
• Ukrainian: со́нечко (uk) n (sónečko), бо́жа корі́вка f (bóža korívka)
• Uyghur: خانقىز (xanqiz)
• Uzbek: xonqizi (uz)
• Vietnamese: bọ rùa (vi), cánh cam
• Welsh: buwch goch gota (cy) f, buchod coch cwta (cy) f pl
• West Frisian: leavehearsbistke n
• Yiddish: משה רבינוס קיִעלע n (moyshe rabeynes kiele), משה רבנוס בהמהלע n (moyshe rabeynes beheymele), משה רבנוס פֿערדעלע n (moyshe rabeynes ferdele)
• Zhuang: nengzgoemj
• Zulu: umanqulwana

Further reading

• Coccinellidae on Wikipedia.Wikipedia