Library / English Dictionary

SILKWORM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The commercially bred hairless white caterpillar of the domestic silkworm moth which spins a cocoon that can be processed to yield silk fiber; the principal source of commercial silk

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("silkworm" is a kind of...):

caterpillar (a wormlike and often brightly colored and hairy or spiny larva of a butterfly or moth)

Meronyms (parts of "silkworm"):

sericterium; serictery; silk gland (silk-producing gland of insects (especially of a silkworm) or spiders)

Holonyms ("silkworm" is a member of...):

Bombyx; genus Bombyx (type genus of the Bombycidae: Chinese silkworm moth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Larva of a saturniid moth; spins a large amount of strong silk in constructing its cocoon

Synonyms:

giant silkworm; silkworm; wild wilkworm

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("silkworm" is a kind of...):

caterpillar (a wormlike and often brightly colored and hairy or spiny larva of a butterfly or moth)

Meronyms (parts of "silkworm"):

sericterium; serictery; silk gland (silk-producing gland of insects (especially of a silkworm) or spiders)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "silkworm"):

ailanthus silkworm; Samia cynthia (large green silkworm of the cynthia moth)

Holonyms ("silkworm" is a member of...):

family Saturniidae; Saturniidae (important and widely distributed family of moths including some of the largest insects known)

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