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BUTTERFLY
Definition of BUTTERFLY
noun
A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring. The imago (final form) of such an insect, consisting usually of a long body with large flat wings, as opposed to earlier instars such as caterpillar or pupa.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
From Middle English buterflie, butturflye, boterflye, from Old English buterflēoge, equivalent to butter + fly. Cognate with Dutch botervlieg, German Butterfliege (“butterfly”). The name may have originally been applied to butterflies of a yellowish color, or reflected a belief that butterflies ate milk and butter (compare German Molkendieb (“butterfly”, literally “whey-thief”) and Low German Botterlicker (“butterfly”, literally “butter-licker”)), or that they excreted a butter-like substance (compare Dutch boterschijte (“butterfly”, literally “butter-excretor”)). Compare also German Schmetterling from Schmetten (“cream”), German Low German Bottervögel (“butterfly”, literally “butter-fowl”). More at butter, fly. An alternate theory suggests that the first element may have originally been Old English butor- (“beater”), a mutation of bēatan (“to beat”), but this would not explain the cognates in other languages or the other names formed with milk products. Superseded non-native Middle English papilion (“butterfly”) borrowed from Old French papillon (“butterfly”). Contrary to popularised belief, the form "butterfly" was not derived from an earlier flutterby.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
BUTTERFLY in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 1 board so far.
It first turned up on Day 120, 17 September 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 120, 17 September 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
BUTTERFLY starts with B and ends with Y. Sorted, its letters read BEFLRTTUY - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. T appears more than once, including a double letter.
Words that start BUTTER
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Could you have found BUTTERFLY?
OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 120 - and most players walked straight past it.
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