morpho

[ 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.

Origin of morpho

1
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”
  • Also called morpho butterfly.

Other definitions for morpho- (2 of 2)

morpho-

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

Origin of morpho-

2
<Greek, combining form of morphḗ
  • Also especially before a vowel, morph-.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use morpho in a sentence

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

    The Sea and the Jungle | H. M. Tomlinson
  • It was in the woods at the Caracoles that I first saw the great morpho butterfly at home.

    The Sea and the Jungle | H. M. Tomlinson
  • 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.

    Oregon and Eldorado | Thomas Bulfinch
  • In the broad alleys of the forest, several species of morpho were common.

    Oregon and Eldorado | Thomas Bulfinch

British Dictionary definitions for morpho-

morpho-

combining form
  1. indicating form or structure: morphology

  2. morpheme: morphophonemics

Origin of morpho-

1
from Greek morphē form, shape

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