eldertongue

Modern English → Old English

Old English word for caterpillar

4 headwords match “caterpillar”, ranked by the scoring in the data pipeline. The five strongest follow; leafwyrm ranks first.

  1. 1

    leafwyrm

    score 15

    noun, masculine · strong i-stem · 6 inflected forms

    caterpillar — caterpillar

    • opens the headword's definition
    • has a full inflection table
    Paradigm summary
    nominative singular lēafwyrm
    genitive singular lēafwyrmes
    dative singular lēafwyrme
    accusative singular lēafwyrm
    nominative plural lēafwyrmas
    genitive plural lēafwyrma
  2. 2

    cawelwyrm

    score 15

    noun, masculine · strong i-stem · 6 inflected forms

    caterpillar — caterpillar

    • opens the headword's definition
    • has a full inflection table
    Paradigm summary
    nominative singular cawelwyrm
    genitive singular cawelwyrmes
    dative singular cawelwyrme
    accusative singular cawelwyrm
    nominative plural cawelwyrmas
    genitive plural cawelwyrma
  3. 3

    treowwyrm

    score 15

    noun, masculine · strong i-stem · 6 inflected forms

    caterpillar — caterpillar

    • opens the headword's definition
    • has a full inflection table
    Paradigm summary
    nominative singular trēowwyrm
    genitive singular trēowwyrmes
    dative singular trēowwyrme
    accusative singular trēowwyrm
    nominative plural trēowwyrmas
    genitive plural trēowwyrma
  4. 4

    emel

    score 11

    noun, feminine · strong ō-stem · 4 inflected forms

    caterpillar — cankerworm, caterpillar, weevil

    • appears in the definition
    • has a full inflection table
    Paradigm summary
    nominative singular ēmel
    genitive singular ēmele
    dative singular ēmele
    accusative singular ēmele
    nominative plural ēmela, ēmele
    genitive plural ēmela

How this ranking works

Scores are computed once, when the site is built, from the Wiktionary data. Every headword whose definitions mention “caterpillar” gets the points below; the candidates are then sorted by total. The score is shown on each entry above so the order can be checked rather than trusted.

The English word opens the headword's definition+10
It appears later in the first definition+6
It appears in any definition+3
It is in the headword's links+2
It is listed as an English descendant (etymological evidence)+9
The headword has an inflection table+3
Part of speech is a proper noun−5
Part of speech is a verb (-ian derivations are noisy)−3
The headword is an alternative form−6
The first definition is longer than three words−2

A candidate has to be a real headword with its own entry: inflected forms and grammatical terminology (genitive, nominative, preterite, …) never appear here.

Not one of these?

The match may be a different sense of “caterpillar”, or an inflected form rather than a headword. Look up the form directly — the entry page marks the grammatical case.

Candidates derived from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0). Each entry links to its source page. · CC BY-SA 4.0 and attribution · CC BY-SA 4.0