Forewing

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The front pair of wings on an insect or other four-winged creature, typically the larger and more prominent set used primarily for flight
2. The pair of wings located in the front of an insect's body, which are frequently larger and primarily utilized for flying
3. These wings, situated at the anterior position on certain insects, often serve as the main means of aerial movement

Etymology: Forewing is about as transparent as English compounds get: "fore" meaning front, joined to "wing." The "fore" element traces back through Old English and Proto-Germanic to an ancient root meaning "before" or "in front," the same sense that survives in "forehead," "forecast" and "forefather." The "wing" half is older still in English, arriving from Old Norse "vængr" and displacing the native word for a bird's limb in Middle English. The compound is a descriptive one, built only when naturalists needed to name the front pair of wings on a flying insect or bird-like animal. Its literal meaning is simply "the wing in front," which is exactly what it describes: on beetles and other insects, the front pair is often hardened into protective covers, and on true flies a single pair of front wings does all the flying. The term is a plain, transparent coinage with no notable person or dramatic shift in meaning behind it.

Synonyms: anterior wing