larva

From Latin larva (“ghost-like, masked”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑː.və/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑɹ.və/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)və
• Homophone: lava (non-rhotic)

larva (plural larvas or larvae or larvæ)

1. An early stage of growth for some insects and amphibians, in which after hatching from their egg, insects are wingless and resemble a caterpillar or grub, and amphibians lack limbs and resemble fish.
   • 1923, Bulletin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, page 6:

     The habits of the second nymphal stage are likewise similar to those of the larva stage.

   • 1954, Contribution - Hawaii Marine Laboratory, page 186:

     Several possible explanations are advanced for a large decrease in numbers between the egg and larva stage, namely, drift of larvae from the sampling station, escape through the meshes of the net, sinking below the surface layers, and loss from mortality. A seasonally erratic egg to larva ratio is pointed out.

2. An animal in the aforementioned stage.
   • 1920, Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture in India, page 84:

     The young larva bores into the tissue of a tobacco leaf, usually near the place where it has emerged from the egg, in cases where the egg was laid on a leaf, and mines into the leaf.

   • 2020, Anne Sagner, Ichthy, diary of a newt larva, page 4:

     What does a mountain newt larva eat?

3. A form of a recently born or hatched animal that is quite different from its adult stage.
   • 1968, R. V. Tait, F. A. Dipper, Elements of Marine Ecology, page 344:

     In water of 5-6° C, herring hatch in about 22 days, at 11-12° C in 8–10 days. The newly hatched larva is about 6–8 mm long and at first depends on the food reserves of the yolk-sac.

   • 2014, Joel W. Martin, Jørgen Olesen, Jens T. Høeg, Atlas of Crustacean Larvae, page 199:

     Breeding females of both the Lophogastrida and Mysida carry their embryos and larvae in a marsupium, within which their entire embryonic and larval development takes place.

4. (figurative) A preliminary stage of someone or something, before it has fully matured, especially a time of growth rather than one of performance.
   • 1883, The Edinburgh Review - Volume 158, page 64:

     In the fourteenth we find, but still in Latin, a quasi-historical drama, in the larva stage of monologue recitation, founded on a subject from the national annals—that of Ezzelino, tyrant-duke of Padua.

   • 1909, Frederick Joseph Duggan, Infinity ; Or, Nature's God, page 58:

     Man's larva stage is first announced by strong pathetic squalls; — Conscious knowledge of his helplessness, — dependency, appalls, — Evokes maternal sympathy,— for him she will provide,— Most proud mother, happy parent, as he nestles by her side.

   • 1910 November, “Teaching Pupils to Study”, in The Louisiana School Review, volume 18, number 3, page 132:

     The larva stage of the child's mind demands much forage material.

   • 1915, Nervous and Mental Disease Monographs - Volumes 19-22 -, page 34:

     The larva stage possesses a libido of nutrition, if I may so express it, but not yet the libido sexualis.

   • 1930, American Childhood - Volume 16, page 10:

     After they have fairly emerged from what may be termed the larva stage, so that they can make their way about, we see them experimenting with their bodies and exploring their surroundings. Babies handle; they taste, they feel with hands and mouths, they look, and they listen; they creep and walk and climb; later they stride, trot, jump, utilizing everything they can find in their play purpose of activity.

   • 1956, Gold Coast. Legislative Assembly, Debates - Part 1, page 205:

     I would call the arrival and settlement of our forefathers in this country which we now call Ghana as the egg stage; the time between the birth of the Fante Confederacy and the time of the first Legislative Council as the larva stage; the time the Positive Action was declared as the pupa stage; and the 3rd of August, 1956, when the historic motion for independence was moved, as the full-grown stage.

   • 2021, Oleg Konovalov, The Vision Code: How to Create and Execute a Compelling Vision for Your Business, page 31:

     A vision in the larva stage uses our knowledge base to grow. We cannot see this process, but it goes on in the back of our mind, usually without our knowing it.

   • 2021, Reynaldo J Garcia, Go to the Next Level:

     We also have been in the larva stage of life. And many people will never abandon this stage. A larva is an adult of eighteen years or more. An adult that never grew up and just wakes up, work, pay bills, sleep, breathe, and so on.

Although the plural larvas is somewhat common, it is regarded by some as incorrect.

• Raval, alvar, arval, lavra

• IPA^(key): /ˈlaɹ.va/

larva

1. plural of larvë

Borrowed from Latin larva (“ghost-like, masked”).

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈlar.bə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈlar.və]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈlaɾ.va]

larva f (plural larves)

1. larva

• larval
• larvari

• “larva”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “larva”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
• “larva” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “larva” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

• IPA^(key): [ˈlarva]
• Rhymes: -arva
• Hyphenation: lar‧va

larva f (relational adjective larvový, diminutive larvička)

1. larva (animal in the larval stage of growth)
2. domino mask

   Synonym: škraboška

• “larva”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “larva”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “larva”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

From Latin larva (“ghost-like, masked”).

larva f (plural larvas)

1. larva

• larval

• “larva”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

From Latin larva (“ghost-like, masked”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈlar.va/
• Rhymes: -arva
• Hyphenation: làr‧va

larva f (plural larve)

1. larva, grub

   Synonym: bruco

2. (figurative) shadow, skeleton

• larvale
• larvato
• larvicida

• larva in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Possibly from Lār (“Etruscan praenomen; titulary god”), usu. as Lares (“guardian deities”),^[1] but vowel length gradation unexplained.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɫaːr.wa]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈlar.va]
• (Plautine) IPA^(key): [ˈɫaː.ru.a]
• (Plautine) IPA^(key): [ˈlaː.ru.a]

lārva f (genitive lārvae); first declension

1. (mythology) ghost, haunt, evil spirit, demon, devil
2. (fantasy) hobgoblin, goblin
3. (figuratively) horrific mask
4. (figuratively) skeleton

First-declension noun.

• circa 200 B.C., Plautus, Captivi, Act 3, Scene 4, line 66:

  Larvae stimulant virum.

  The ghosts rouse the man.

• lārvālis
• lārvāns
• lārvō

larvā

1. second-person singular present active imperative of larvō (enchant)

• “larva”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “larva”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• larva in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

• larven

larva m or f

1. definite feminine singular of larve

• larven

larva m or f

1. definite feminine singular of larve

Learned borrowing from Latin larva (“ghost-like, masked”).

• Rhymes: -aɾvɐ
• Hyphenation: lar‧va

larva f (plural larvas)

1. larva (early growth stage of some insects and amphibians)

• “larva”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

• alvar, lavar, lavra, Raval, valar, varal

• IPA^(key): [ˈlarva]

larva f

1. definite nominative/accusative singular of larvă

From Latin larva (“ghost-like, masked”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈlaɾba/ [ˈlaɾ.β̞a]

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾba
• Syllabification: lar‧va

larva f (plural larvas)

1. larva
2. (obsolete) ghost

   Synonym: fantasma

3. (colloquial, El Salvador) freeloader

   Synonym: vivián

   Juan es un larva.

   Juan is a freeloader.

larva m or f (masculine and feminine plural larvas)

1. (colloquial, El Salvador) freeloading

   Synonym: vivián

   Hay muchas personas larvas aquí.

   There are so many freeloading people here.

• “larva”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

From Latin larva (“facemask”). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

larva (present larvar, preterite larvade, supine larvat, imperative larva)

1. (reflexive) to behave flippantly, childishly or ridiculously; to tramp, to footle

• larv
• larvig

• Alvar, lavar, valar

From Latin larva.

• Hyphenation: lar‧va

larva (definite accusative larvayı, plural larvalar)

1. larva.

• kurtçuk
• (archaic) sürfe

• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “larva”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• “larva”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu