Butterflies
Etymology
A 20th-century figurative coinage from the image of wings fluttering in the belly. The sensation is real physiology: under stress, the body diverts blood from the digestive tract to the muscles and the gut’s own dense network of nerves reacts, producing the light, hollow flutter.
noun phrase · /BUT-ur-flyz/
The fluttering, queasy sensation in the stomach that comes with nervousness or anticipation.
What it names
A bodily signal everyone recognizes but rarely explains — the felt edge of the fight-or-flight response.
Example
She got butterflies at the top of the aisle, the same ones she used to feel before a race.
Related idea
Butterflies are the physical symptom in the gut; anxiety is the broader mental and emotional state that often produces them — you can have butterflies from pure excitement, with no anxiety at all.
See also