larva

Pronunciation: /ˈlɑː.və/

The English word “larva” has 4 meanings listed here.

noun

An early stage of growth for insects and some amphibians, in which after hatching from their egg, insects are wingless and resemble a caterpillar or grub, and amphibians lack limbs and resemble fish.
An animal in the aforementioned stage.
A form of a recently born or hatched animal that is quite different from its adult stage.
A preliminary stage of someone or something, before it has fully matured, especially a time of growth rather than one of performance.

From Latin larva (“disembodied spirit, ghost, goblin”).

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.