cockchafer

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun any of various large European beetles destructive to vegetation as both larvae and adult

Etymology

From cock (“male bird”) + chafer (“beetle”). The Oxford English Dictionary speculates that the name may relate to a resemblance of antennae to coxcomb, or to the beetle’s size. Compare French hanneton (“cockchafer”), ultimately from Frankish *hanō (“rooster”). Attested from the late seventeenth century.

In classic literature

Synonyms

May bug, May beetle, Melolontha melolontha

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