名詞 caterpillar:

1. a wormlike and often brightly colored and hairy or spiny larva of a butterfly or moth
2. a large tracked vehicle that is propelled by two endless metal belts; frequently used for moving earth in construction and farm work
   同義詞：cat

1. A caterpillar must pass through the cocoon stage to become a butterfly.
   毛毛蟲必須經(jīng)過繭的階段才能變成蝴蝶。
2. Any of various crawling insect larvae, such as a grub or a caterpillar, having a soft, elongated body.
   幼蟲幾種爬行昆蟲幼蟲的一種，如蛆或毛毛蟲，有柔軟的，細長的身體
3. A caterpillar is the larva of a butterfly.
   毛蟲是蝴蝶的幼體。
4. The ugly caterpillar will change into a beautiful butterfly.
   丑陋的毛蟲會變成美麗的蝴蝶。

cat.er.pil.lar

n.（名詞）
The wormlike, often brightly colored, hairy or spiny larva of a butterfly or moth.
毛蟲：蝴蝶或蛾子的蠕蟲狀，多為淺顏色的多毛或帶刺的幼蟲
Any of various insect larvae similar to those of the butterfly or moth.
毛蟲：任何一種類似于蝴蝶或蛾子幼蟲的各類昆蟲的幼蟲

來源：
Middle English catirpel, catirpeller
中古英語 catirpel, catirpeller
probably alteration of Old North French *catepelose
可能為 古法國北方方言 *catepelose的變化
cate [cat] from Latin cattus
cate [貓] 源自 拉丁語 cattus
pelose [hairy] from Latin pilôsus * see pilose
pelose [多毛的] 源自 拉丁語 pilôsus *參見 pilose

<注釋>It seems that the larvae of moths and butterflies are popularly seen as resembling other, larger animals.Consider the Italian dialect wordgatta, .cat, caterpillar.; the German dialect termtüfelskatz, .caterpillar. (literally .devil`s cat.); the French wordchenille, .caterpillar. (from a Vulgar Latin diminutive, .canocula, of canis, .dog.); and last but not least,our own wordcaterpillar, which appears probably to have come through Northern French from the Old French termchatepelose, meaning literally .hairy cat..Our wordcaterpillar is first recorded in English in 440 in the formcatyrpel. Catyr, the first part of catyrpel, may indicate the existence of an English word.cater, meaning .tomcat,.otherwise attested only incaterwaul. Cater would be cognate with Middle High German kater and Dutch kater. The latter part ofcatyrpel seems to have become associated with the word piller, .plunderer.. By giving the variant spelling -ar, Johnson`s Dictionary set the spelling caterpillar with which we are familiar today.
似乎蛾子和蝴蝶的幼蟲經(jīng)常會被看成與其它較大動物相似。意大利方言中gatta， 一字，.貓，毛蟲.； 日耳曼方言中tüfelskatz 一字.毛蟲.（直譯為.邪惡的貓.）； 法語詞chenille， .毛蟲.（來自民間拉丁語小詞綴， canicula， 源自 canis ，是.狗.的意思）； 最后但并非不重要的一點，英語中caterpillar 一詞， 可能是來源于從法國北部傳來的古法語詞匯chatepelose， 字面意思是.多毛的貓.。caterpillar 一字于440年最早記錄在英語中， 以catyrpel的形式出現(xiàn)。 Catyr是 catyrpel 的第一部分， 可能指明英語詞cater 的存在， 意指.雄貓.，否則只能存在于caterwaul一詞中。 Cater可能與中世紀高地德語 kater 和荷蘭語 kater 有關(guān)。 catyrpel 一詞的后一部分似乎與 piller 一詞有關(guān)，意思是.強盜.。 約翰遜的詞典 給出了不同的拼寫- ar， 從而形成了我們今天所熟悉的 caterpillar