elytron

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἔλυτρον (élutron, “sheath”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛlɪtɹɒn/

Noun

elytron (plural elytra)

1. A sheath or outer covering, especially around the spinal cord or over the hindwings of certain insects.
   • 1997, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 9, in Mason & Dixon, 1st US edition, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, part One: Latitudes and Departures, page 88:

     In a corner, the Darkling Beetle rustles in its Cage, its Elytra the same unforgiving white as the great sand-waste call’d ‘Kalahari’ lying north of here […]

   • 2020, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments, Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, →ISBN, page 9:

     […] the elytra covering the hind wings of the firefly lift like a light leather, suppler than any other beetle’s.

Translations

outer covering of insect

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鞘翅 (zh)

• Czech: krovka (cs) f
• Finnish: peitesiipi
• French: élytre (fr) m
• Greek: έλυτρο (el) n (élytro)
• Italian: elitra f
• Japanese: 翅鞘 (ししょう, shishō)
• Romanian: elitră (ro) f
• Russian: надкры́лье (ru) n (nadkrýlʹje), надкры́лья n pl (nadkrýlʹja)
• Spanish: élitro (es) m
• Ukrainian: надкрило́ n (nadkryló), надкри́лля n (nadkrýllja), елі́тра f (elítra)