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Glite Dictionary
🦋 A white butterfly 🐛 A green caterpillar
Pieris rapae

Pieris rapae

9.7
A green caterpillar that eats cabbage and similar garden plants
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : larva de Pieris rapae
  • The green caterpillar of Pieris rapae is a familiar pest in many home gardens.

Examples

  • The garden was infested with Pieris rapae larvae eating holes in the cabbage leaves.

  • Farmers use netting to protect crops from Pieris rapae damaging their vegetables.

  • Have you noticed the Pieris rapae larvae in your garden?

  • The Pieris rapae larvae can damage crops significantly.

  • The garden was infested with Pieris rapae larvae eating holes in the cabbage leaves.

  • The green caterpillar of Pieris rapae is a familiar pest in many home gardens.

  • The Pieris rapae larvae can damage crops significantly.

Synonyms

cabbageworm
vsPieris rapae
  • US
8.2

A green caterpillar that eats cabbage and other garden plants

has identical meaning but uses the scientific species name

Surface Forms

Pieris rapae singular
Pieris rapaes plural

Morphology

Pieris + rapae

This is a scientific Latin binomial (taxonomic name) rather than a compositional English phrase; its meaning as the cabbage white butterfly (or its larva) is a learned label, not predictable from English word formation. The second element 'rapae' is not a regular English word (no dictionary gloss) and even though Latin names are internationally used, they function as proper names that B1 learners cannot reliably interpret from the parts.

Etymology

Pieris rapae is also used for the green caterpillar stage of the 'cabbage white'; these small green larvae hide in cabbage leaves and eat holes in them, so gardeners call the larva by the same name. That's why Pieris rapae can mean the caterpillar that damages cabbage and similar plants.