imago means the final developmental stage of an insect after undergoing metamorphosis. It carries an Arena rating of 1525, earned across 7 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, imago ranks #779 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #1,439 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #1,466 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #1,485 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
imago is pronounced /ɪˈmeɪɡəʊ/.
Why “imago” is a great word
The final, adult, and sexually mature form of an insect, or, in psychoanalytic theory, an unconscious, idealized mental image of a significant person formed in childhood. From Latin imāgō ("likeness, image, copy"), the entomological sense was established in New Latin scientific terminology by 1797. Unlike "pupa"—the quiescent, transitional stage—imago is the finished, reproductive being; unlike the universal "archetype" of myth, an imago is a private idol, forged from personal memory. It is the dragonfly, fully hardened and glinting, leaving its husk on a reed; the patient, winged clockwork of a cicada; the moth that has forgotten it was ever a caterpillar—and it is the ghost of a father’s smile or a mother’s inflection, a silhouette that walks ahead of you through every room, governing your loves and judgments from a silent, polished shrine.
Etymology
From Latin imāgō. Doublet of image. Compare typologically a Russian term for coordinate larva: личи́нка (ličínka) (akin to лик (lik)).
noun
- The final developmental stage of an insect after undergoing metamorphosis.e.g.“‘But still,’ he said to himself, drawing the metamorphoses of a red admiral, egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and imago on his pad, ‘what shall I say to him when we meet?’” — 1973, Patrick O'Brian, HMS Surprise:
- An idealised concept of a loved one, formed in childhood and retained unconsciously into adult life, the basis for the psychological formation of personality archetypes.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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