Resembling or having the appearance of gold; golden or gleaming in color, especially referring to chrysalises.
From Greek 'chrysos' (gold) plus the adjectival suffix '-ine.' The term describes the golden, luminous quality characteristic of many butterfly pupae.
Chrysaline literally means 'gold-like,' and many monarch chrysalises are genuinely decorated with shimmering gold spots that look like someone painted them with actual gold leaf! It's one of nature's most beautiful examples of form matching the meaning of a word.
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