jewel beetle; buprestid
Refers to beetles of the family Buprestidae, especially the species Chrysochroa fulgidissima, known for their iridescent, metallic colors. Commonly used in everyday contexts to describe the insect or its shimmering appearance.
I found a jewel beetle in the garden.
The wings of the jewel beetle change color depending on the angle of light.
iridescent color; jewel beetle color · equivocal; ambiguous; vague
The katakana spelling is the most common written form for this insect name; usually written in kana.
Kanji spelling is uncommon in modern usage; the insect is almost always written in kana.
Alternate kanji spelling, very rare and mostly found in older or specialized texts.
The name タマムシ (玉虫) literally means 'jewel insect', from 玉 (tama, 'jewel, ball') and 虫 (mushi, 'insect'), referring to its gem-like iridescent wings. The alternate kanji 吉丁虫 is a phonetic borrowing from Chinese, but the exact historical derivation is uncertain.