👓 A mottled pattern 🐢 A turtle shell material 🐈 A multicolored cat 🦋 A colorful butterfly

tortoiseshell

7.0

A brightly colored butterfly with orange and black wings that feeds on nettles

noun
/ˈtɔrtəˌʃɛl/

: mariposa de las ortigas

We spotted a tortoiseshell butterfly resting on a nettle plant during our nature walk.

Examples

Children enjoyed watching the tortoiseshell butterflies dance around the nettles in the summer sun.
We were happy seeing the Golden Jackal chasing a flock of Himalayan Monal, the Lammergeier, vultures, ravens, Indian Tortoiseshell butterfly, and Indian Admiral.

Blog text (8)
Before the tortoiseshell butterfly was carved in the black oak, Benny Helmer and Severin Hansen had drunk many cases of beer in the workshop.

Fiction book (1995)
The small tortoiseshell butterfly fluttered gracefully among the blooming flowers in the garden.

Synonyms

tortoiseshell butterfly

vstortoiseshell

6.7

A small bright butterfly with orange and black wings that often visits flowers

denotes a single bright butterfly often exemplified by the Eurasian small species

Compounds

tortoiseshell butterfly

6.7

A small bright butterfly with orange and black wings that often visits flowers

tortoiseshell cat

3.3

A domestic cat with black, orange, and cream patches of fur

tortoiseshell turtle

8.2

A tropical sea turtle with a hooked beak and a beautiful patterned shell valued for decoration and food

Surface Forms

tortoiseshell singular

tortoiseshells plural

Morphology

tortoiseshell = tortoise + shell (semi-transparent) = tortoise + shell

The compound literally names something resembling a tortoise's shell, but the specific lexical sense 'a butterfly species' is a conventional name and not deducible as 'butterfly' from the parts alone.

Etymology

Tortoiseshell comes from the words tortoise and shell because the butterfly's wings have orange and black patches that look like a turtle's shell. So the name helps you picture this bright, 'patterned' butterfly.