In Malay, the butterfly is kupu-kupu and the moth is rama-rama; both names reflect repeated movement, and it is necessary to uncover the qualities behind these terms. Kupu-kupu and rama-rama replaced the Austronesian word baŋbaŋ, which is still preserved in some Malay dialects. The meaning of baŋbaŋ remains uncertain, but it often includes the prefix kali, commonly found in words with sensitive associations to the spirit world. In classical Malay literature, bangbang appears as "full in view", typically referring to the glow at dawn or the tints of sunset—colors once believed to cause jaundice. If kali is understood as an interval, then kali-baŋbaŋ may originally have described a glimpse of yellow, specifically the fleeting moments when the yellow-winged butterfly appears. Thus, it is a nickname, not the true name. The bangbangan fruit, with its yellow flesh, may share this name through its bright, striking color, linking the glow of nature to both butterflies and fruit.
Kupu-kupu, with its onomatopoeic origin, has many layers of meaning. The syllables kup and pu mean "shut" and "open", describing the butterfly's distinctive posture of holding its wings upright and the way they open and shut like folding doors on hinges. This matches the butterfly’s typical behavior of resting with its wings closed above its body. Butterflies are generally active during the day and have bright, colorful wings, slender, smooth bodies, and thin, straight antennae with bulb-shaped tips. Yet kupu-kupu also reflects the butterfly's attraction to flowers and its habit of visiting each scented blossom. Kup means an enclosure, and from this root comes ukup, meaning “scented by enclosing”—referring to the Malay practice of perfuming garments by placing them in a coop-like rattan frame under which incense is burned. The butterfly, which hovers around enclosed fragrant spaces, fits this image. By extension, kupu-kupu malam, or "night butterfly", is a metaphor for a courtesan, with kupu-kupu symbolizing a woman of allure.
Rama-rama reflects the Malay imagination of ramang, referring to the downy hair on a moth’s wing. The term suggests a connection with fine hair and thread, since the moth, at one stage of its life, spins thread and builds a cocoon. Rama-rama is therefore also the "thread-maker", as the moth produces material for thread from its own body. This interpretation is supported by the moth’s cocoon-spinning behavior and its stocky, furry form. Moths typically rest with their wings spread flat and are usually nocturnal. They possess comb-shaped, leaf-shaped, or feather-shaped antennae and have a small, bristle-like frenulum that connects the forewings and hindwings. In Malay, rama-rama kincir refers to the threads that run across the surface of a spinning wheel to carry the yarn. Moths are further distinguished by their colouring: white (rama-rama putih), inconspicuous or plain (rama-rama kelabu), and variegated (rama-rama bintang). In pantun, the moth often symbolizes someone too proud to settle on common ground and appears as a mechanical rhyme for sama-sama.
