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morpho

1

[ mawr-foh ]

noun

, plural mor·phos.
  1. any of various large, tropical American butterflies of the genus Morpho, having brilliant blue, iridescent wings with an underside of brown or gray and eyelike spots.


morpho-

2
  1. a combining form meaning “form, structure,” used in the formation of compound words:

    morphology.

morpho-

combining_form

  1. indicating form or structure

    morphology

  2. morpheme

    morphophonemics

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of morpho1

First recorded in 1850–55; from New Latin Morphō, genus name, from Greek Morphṓ “the Shapely, the Beautiful” (an epithet of Aphrodite in Sparta), akin to morphḗ “form, shape, figure, beauty”

Origin of morpho2

< Greek, combining form of morphḗ
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Word History and Origins

Origin of morpho1

from Greek morphē form, shape
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Example Sentences

The iconic morpho blue butterfly doesn’t have a flake of blue pigment.

One year a beautiful blue morpho butterfly landed on my sweater, and I carried it with me through the exhibit for several long minutes.

The structural color of the morpho wings is angle dependent, though—it shimmers and changes as the butterfly flutters.

Take, for example, the opalescent wings of a morpho butterfly.

Helicons came, and once a morpho, the latter a great rarity away from the interior of the woods.

It was in the woods at the Caracoles that I first saw the great morpho butterfly at home.

In this upper story was an image of Aphrodite Morpho fettered—a silly thing he thought it to fetter a cedar-wood doll.

The largest specimens of Morpho Cisseis measure seven inches and a half in expanse.

In the broad alleys of the forest, several species of Morpho were common.

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-morphismmorphogenesis