falena

From Latin phalaena, from Ancient Greek φάλαινα (phálaina, “moth; whale”). The semantic shift from "whale" to "moth" occurred in Hellenistic Greek, likely due to an analogy between the fluttering movement of a moth's wings and the fins or spout of a whale. Doublet of balena (“whale”)

• IPA^(key): /faˈlɛ.na/
• Rhymes: -ɛna
• Hyphenation: fa‧lè‧na

falena f (plural falene)

1. winter moth (Operophtera brumata)
2. (by extension) moth

   Synonym: farfalla notturna

• alfane, fanale

• phalena

From Latin phalaena, from Ancient Greek φάλαινα (phálaina, “moth; whale”). The semantic shift from "whale" to "moth" occurred in Hellenistic Greek, likely due to an analogy between the fluttering movement of a moth's wings and the fins or spout of a whale.

• Hyphenation: fa‧le‧na

falena f (plural falenas)

1. moth

• “falena”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “falena” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “falena”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

From Latin phalaena, from Ancient Greek φάλαινα (phálaina, “moth; whale”). The semantic shift from "whale" to "moth" occurred in Hellenistic Greek, likely due to an analogy between the fluttering movement of a moth's wings and the fins or spout of a whale. Doublet of balena (“whale”)

• IPA^(key): /faˈlena/ [faˈle.na]
• Rhymes: -ena
• Syllabification: fa‧le‧na

falena f (plural falenas)

1. moth

• “falena”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025